


Wild Magic: Trickster's Sight

by Artemisdesari



Series: Wild Magic and Gifts [3]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Child Loss, Dwalin Is A Sweetheart, Dwalin doesn't know what he's let himself in for, F/M, He's as bad as Nori, Hopeful Ending, How very dare it, Knife Play, Miscarriage, No one is alright, Nori is a tease, Nori likes sex and she's not ashamed to admit it, Object Insertion, Plot is now interfering with my porn, Pre-Quest of Erebor, Public Sex, Rough Sex, Sort Of, That isn't how we use knives Nori, That isn't what we use axes for Dwalin, Thief Nori, Violence, aftercare is cvery important people, and the angst train is filling up fast, because who doesn't love a happily ever after?, girl Nori, guard dwalin, magic Nori, so are clear boundries, was supposed to be PWP, whether he admits it or not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:28:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 43,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22462591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemisdesari/pseuds/Artemisdesari
Summary: 'Once there was a time, according to Dori, when Nori could have been considered a 'good girl'. This time has, in all honesty, been lost to all but her older brother's memory and Nori is glad of it.'30 years before the quest for Erebor Nori roams Ered Luin as a thief in the Court of the Trickster King. She enjoys her life, until her eye is caught and a little harmless fun turns into a test of her loyalties.(You do not need to have read Wild Magic to understand this one, nothing that happens in the main story has any affect on it)
Relationships: Dwalin/Nori (Tolkien)
Series: Wild Magic and Gifts [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1557199
Comments: 430
Kudos: 108





	1. Chase

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter has been lifted directly from the cut scenes to Wild Magic, turns out there was an extra story in there after all. The second chapter will be up fairly shortly. Soon as I get it typed up. You will not, however, need to have read the main fic to understand this one. We're about 30 years before the quest.

Once there was a time, according to Dori, when Nori could have been considered a 'good girl'. This time has, in all honesty, been lost to all but her older brother's memory and Nori is glad of it. She laughs breathlessly as she scrambles over a wall, deliberately clumsy, and looks over her shoulder at the large guard following her. She can't imagine having quite so much fun if she had remained a nice, good girl, no matter how much Dori might mourn for it. She has been watching this guard for the better part of two weeks, patience being a very great virtue in her line of work, and she has learnt his routine, the streets he walks and the ones he doesn't, the times when he will be alone and far from one of his fellow watchmen. She has learnt his name and his rank, she has watched him in the bath house and the training rooms and the taproom. Until this chase he hadn't seen her. It's easy to become someone else when you dress as Nori does.

"You were a beautiful child," Dori will mourn as he looks at the many layers of clothes that Nori wears.

Nori is a slight thing, by dwarf standards at least, which makes her all the better at her job. Layer upon layer of tunics and undershirts make her appear bulkier than she is, styling her hair and beard into large peaks makes her seem taller and broader still. It makes it easier to hide when she decides to follow Dori's example of sleek sophisticated braids, when she decides to wear skirts and flounce through the town looking as though she hasn't a thought in her head. It makes it easy to track someone when one day she looks like a dam a decade younger than she is and another she has all the appearance of an old dwarf gone to fat rather than muscle. This guard might have noticed any one of the personalities she dons to scope out a mark, but he has never seen the peaked thief so many of his compatriots talk about with frustration and curses.

Not until tonight, anyway.

As it is, Nori hasn't actually stolen anything today, not even a pocket picked even if Dori thinks she can't help herself. Being caught stealing something isn't the point of this chase, she could have done if he hadn't taken off after her when she had run at the sight of him like some young thieves she has known, but it hadn't been necessary. He has heard the stories, she had run at the sight of him and he had come after her exactly as she had hoped. Nori likes it when a plan comes together like this, even if it means that Varik will be unhappy that she's been playing games again. She'll give him the same excuse she always does; distant fantasies only go so far, sometimes she just needs to sample the real thing.

"Oh, no, a wall that's too high," she gasps sarcastically as she rounds a corner into a secluded alley and halts. "What ever will I do?" She grins.

"I'll tell you what you can do," her pursuer replies and his large hand closes around her arm, "you can come with me."

She turns to look at him, still smiling. Dwalin, son of Fundin, is perhaps two decades older than she is, though he looks like he could be more than that, and he is everything that tends to catch her eye. Large, muscular, with a brutish appearing exterior that seems to intimidate most lesser dwarves. She has very definite ideas about the games she could play with him and the fun that they could both have. She also knows that getting him onto the same page as her will be a lot harder to do than it looks. Dwalin, she has discovered, is one of the decent ones. She tugs against his grip experimentally, he has a firm hold on her, not enough to bruise but just enough to bite and she has to clamp down on a groan from that thought alone. Instead, she turns to look at him with wide green eyes, biting her lower lip just a little and she sees him blink in surprise.

"Are you sure there isn't something I can do to change your mind?" She asks breathlessly.

As attractive as she finds him, if he gives in to her now she'll walk away. She knows his reputation, she wants the challenge of breaking his resolve, not batting her eyelids and getting everything she wants right away. To her delight he scowls, spinning her so that he can push her back against the wall and pin her in place. He looms over her, though he doesn't seem to realise just how much he does so, glaring at her while her nimble fingers pluck a dagger from his belt, one that she knows he treasures. She smiles up at him, watching the way he examines her even as he growls.

"That won't work with me."

"I know," she replies, "can't blame a thief for trying."

She keeps her voice steady, feels his hand relax and shift just enough that she can break free. It doesn't take much to do it really, a quick twist and a small shove, she inherited the same strength as her brother after all, and she's dancing out from under his arms. He grabs for her and she ducks, effortlessly dodging him and far more gracefully than she had led him to believe she would be. Nori is accustomed to these sorts of fights, the ones where she and her opponent use fists and feet rather than weapons. Dwalin isn't. It doesn't take much for her to get him onto his back, to straddle his hips as he lies gasping on the damp stone beneath them. She grinds herself against him, just once, and feels him stir as his eyes widen minutely. Her grin is almost feral, he might not want to admit that he's enjoying this, but he evidently is and she'll have to remember this. For the moment, however, she leans down and presses her lips to his, stealing a kiss. He shifts beneath her, his lips begin to move in response to hers, and she moves away, flipping back and leaping over the wall that had seemed like a barrier only minutes before. In the alley she hears him curse, and she ducks into one of the nearby houses flipping his dagger as she does so.

Dori is not amused.

True to her thoughts during the chase, however, distant fantasies and a little taste only go so far. Within a couple of days Nori has tracked Dwalin down again, this time on the other side of his usual route although it is just as isolated. He doesn't spot her straight away, she keeps to the shadows and watches to make sure that he is alone. Fortunately for her, he is and she leans against a wall and whistles sharply, flipping his knife in the air when he turns to look at her and she sees him track its movement.

"You," he snarls, stalking towards her with the most deliciously furious expression on his face. She ducks out of his way. "Give that _back_!" He demands.

"What do I get if I do?" She asks with a smirk.

"I won't kill you," he replies.

"That's no fun," she pouts. "I'll give it back if you catch me."

"I've caught you once," he reminds her.

"I let you," she corrects. "Shall we make it a little bit harder this time?"

He snarls as he makes a grab for her, coming close enough to graze against her coat and she laughs as she darts out of his way. He doesn't catch her that night, or the one after, but Nori knows how to keep him interested, letting him get just close enough before finding a place that he cannot follow her and departing. She discovers on the third night, however, that he learns far more rapidly than she had dared to hope and just before she can flip out of his reach and be on her way he manages to grab her. Once again she finds herself pressed with her back against a wall and Dwalin looking down at her. His hands grip both of her arms this time and she is almost certain that there will be bruises. She squirms against him, breath coming in short pants as she meets his eyes boldly. He looks baffled at the reaction, likely expecting something entirely different and _not_ the breathless smile that covers her face.

"I knew you could do it," she whispers.

"Give it back," he orders.

"You'll have to let go of me to search me," she says, "who knows what I might steal this time."

As she had hoped, that gets him to press his body completely against hers, pinning her in place quite nicely but not the most effective way to search a captive. She feels so small like this, delicate and breakable even through her lays of clothing, and though he has a firm grip on her upper arms she has just enough movement to reach and palm him through his trousers. As she had hoped, he is apparently as into this as she is. He rocks into her hand without thinking and she smiles again, fingers drifting to his laces.

"Don't," he snarls. She pauses, feeling disappointment flood her.

"Why?" She demands. "You want me, and do you really think I'd have gone to all this trouble if I didn't want you?" He glares at her and she rubs him again, feeling the size and weight of his cock and contemplating the possibility of falling to her knees so that she can take him into her mouth. He'd probably run before she got the chance and she shifts her focus back to his laces, challenging him to stop her. "Or maybe that's it," she says when he doesn't move. "Maybe you've got no idea what to do with it. All the promise and no ability to make good on it." He snarls at her again, but doesn't tell her to stop and her hand slides into his trousers. "Such a waste," she breathes.

"I'd break you in two," he gasps when she runs her thumb over the head of his cock.

"Prove it," she replies and for a moment she wonders if she has misjudged.

Then his lips cover hers and it is every bit as rough and demanding and _glorious_ as she had hoped it would be. His grip on her arms shifts, pulling them so that he can hold her slender wrists above her head in one of his large hands. The other goes to her belt, finding the dagger that she had taken and he pulls back as he removes it.

"Mine," he hisses and she worries that he will pull away entirely, that their game is done and she will have to break free before he can take her to the cells. She wriggles against him, hips brushing against his and his eyes go darker still. Dwalin tucks the dagger away, and she could have it back off him in a moment if she wanted to, but right now she's more interested in seeing if he will make good on the promise of that kiss. "Let's see what _else_ you've got hidden down here shall we?" Dwalin growls and she bites back a whimper as his hand goes to her belt, undoing it and all but tearing the laces of her trousers open.

He makes a surprised sound when he dips his hand inside, dragging a finger through her folds and finding her wet and desperate for him. He grins, which isn't quite the reaction she had expected, flicking his finger over her pearl teasingly, deliberately keeping his touch too light to do much more than make her catch her breath as she desperately tries to seek friction against his hand. As soon as she shifts, however, he pulls his hand away and she whines in frustration. He still has her hands pinned above her head and she waits to see what he will do next, glaring at him defiantly and reissuing her challenge when it seems like he might pull away. He hisses, he has what he wanted, she knows, so there is no reason for him to continue this, but he claims her mouth again with his, silencing her frustrated words as he kisses her almost punishingly. She revels in it, pressing up against him as he forces her trousers down and she silently thrills at the fact that she had decided to wear her light leather half boots instead of the normal steel capped ones her people favour as she kicks them off so that she can get a leg free.

It doesn't take much for her to wrap her legs about his waist, there's a reason she's so good at evading the guards after all, and she tugs lightly at his grip on her wrists, feeling his answering growl rumble through her. She whines, using her legs to pull him more tightly against her, seeking something, anything, hips lifting and shifting. He stills them with his free hand, then reaches to free himself properly. He's pressed against her and she wonders if he will hesitate, he wouldn't be the first, but he doesn't. He swallows her cry as he fills her and she relishes in the stretch and burn, just the right side of painful and exactly what she enjoys. The pace he sets is brutal, his other hand coming back up to join the one holding her wrists as he drives into her, pressing her against the wall hard enough for her to feel the bite of stone against her shoulders and his mouth muffling her cries as she feels her peak approaching far more rapidly than she had expected.

Nori tumbles over with a shriek that not even Dwalin's hard kiss can silence, dragging him with her. He slumps against her, pinning her in place as they catch their breath and the only thought that she can entertain in the moment is that she will have to do this again.

"Get dressed," he rasps. "I'm taking you in."

"That isn't how this is supposed to go," she reminds him, pulling herself together quickly.

"Not nice when others don't play by the rules, is it?" He asks and she laughs, wrapping her old belt about his wrists as he reties the laces on his trousers and pulling it tight.

"Until next time," she promises, scaling the side of the house he had taken her against and running across the roof, ignoring the way that her legs burn and her body aches.

She will _definitely_ be doing this again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 6 of the cut scenes will stay where it is. I'm too lazy to remove it and yet too much of an overachiever to stop this universe from expanding. I live here now. Forget all the rest, this is now my place and is where I will be found for the next however many months it takes me to wrap the whole lot up. I'm only expecting this one to be between 10 and 12 chapters long. I've learnt not to take my original outlines as a good guide, my stories keep growing.


	2. Mark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nori crouches on the roof of a nearby building and watches

Nori crouches on the roof of a nearby building and watches, a small knife flickering between nimble fingers as she focuses on her mark while he talks quietly and urgently with another dwarf. For now she is simply gathering information, a task which she is exceptionally good at but which she finds boring in the extreme. When planning to steal from someone _this_ rich, or seduce a guard as large as Dwalin, however, knowledge is key. It's just a pity that forty percent of the take is expected to go to Varik before she gets a look in.

Varik is getting greedy, she muses, and it means that the rest of the court are having to hit bigger and bigger marks in order to make any real coin at all. It's a sign that he must be coming to the end of his time as Trickster King, though, they usually _are_ when they start to get _this_ grasping.

Her mark shifts, beginning to walk again, and Nori watches him, idly noting that his pause had ended with the exchange of a small bag of coin for a cloth wrapped package. Nori knows the dwarf he has been speaking to, and she knows what that one deals in. Her wealthy mark has a vice which can be exploited and apparently he prefers _not_ to do so in the dens. She'll have to keep an eye on that. The last thing she needs is poppy smoke addling her brains. She moves to follow once he is far enough ahead that she won't be noticed, only to halt and shrink behind a chimney. The guard have stepped up their patrols since Varik began demanding more out of his court, more guards makes tailing marks that much more difficult.

She has to grin when she sees the identity of the one who has disturbed her, however, because it would appear that Dwalin has changed his route.

Nori has a system when it comes to the guards who catch her eye. More often than not they are exactly her type, odd as that sounds, because they are large, muscular and usually strong enough to make sure that she still _feels_ it the next day. She does have to be careful, however, about indulging more than once, and not just because Varik gets annoyed with her proclivity for seducing guards. Some guards, the less savoury ones, will let her go for a quick fuck. That isn't always as satisfying as she might like, even if it scratches the itch for a day or two, but those guards she can visit again fairly rapidly until she grows bored. Nori grows bored of those ones very quickly. The best ones, however, are the ones like Dwalin. The decent ones who have to be poked and riled until they give in, and then would still try to arrest her afterwards simply because her goading them into a loss of control doesn't mean that they shouldn't do their job. Honestly, if one of them could render her so insensate that they could actually manage to catch her, Nori would _let_ them take her in. She would be out inside of a few hours anyway, either due to one of her previous lovers or because picking locks is one of her specialities. It does, however, mean that she tends to avoid the ones like Dwalin for a couple of weeks. A good fuck isn't worth the hassle that comes with being arrested and escaping, not really, and Dwalin will need time to cool off before she tries to rile him up again. More than once during that time her eyes will be caught by someone else anyway.

That hasn't been the case _this_ time.

For starters she has never had anyone make her feel anything _like_ that good so quickly. Not to mention the utterly delicious ache that had lingered throughout the following two days. She wouldn't mind another round with him in the slightest, just to see how far she might be able to push him, except that she is supposed to still be avoiding him. He's going to be plenty angry with her still, but she knows where her mark is heading and she's bored and frustrated and even if she doesn't get a good fuck out of it, she'll still get a little something extra for her fantasies.

"Hello, guard," she purrs as she drops down silently behind him.

" _You_!" He snarls, lunging for her and she dances out of his reach. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm a thief," she grins, "work it out." He scowls but goes still, obviously having realised that he isn't going to catch her as long as this encounter is happening on her terms. "Tell me," she whispers, close enough to his torn ear to brush her lips against it even though she has to stand on tip toe, "did you enjoy the other night as much as I did?"

"No," he spits and red flares about him.

"I'd be hurt if I couldn't tell that you're lying," she replies. The Sight isn't always useful, but at times like this she enjoys using it. "Could I tempt you to another round?" She's disappointed when he clamps his lips shut and doesn't respond, folding his arms over his chest in a way that displays his muscles perfectly. "Now that _is_ a shame," she breathes, walking around and letting her fingers drift almost close enough to touch him. If she does, however, he'll catch her in a moment.

"I've let you make a fool out of me once, _thief_ ," he snaps, "it won't be happening again." Red.

"Liar," she purrs. "I know you've thought about it. A cock like yours would be intimidating to most," he shifts. "How often do you have to go slow and easy because they think you'll hurt them? How many times have you wanted to grab them and pin them and fuck them like you did me the other night? We could have a lot of fun together."

"I've never thought about it," he says and though the flicker of red is there, it isn't as bright as she had thought it would be.

Interesting.

"I think you have," she muses, "and we could explore it, you know."

"Get out of here, thief," he hisses. It isn't an outright rejection, if anything she thinks that she is beginning to wear him down. A little more effort and this night might not be a total bust, but she knows better than to push her luck.

"Alright," she goes still in front of him, so close that he would have no trouble at all grabbing her before she can move away. "Perhaps next time," and on impulse she moves forward to brush a feather light kiss over his lips.

He doesn't move, simply stares after her with an expression that she cannot quite read as she climbs back onto the roof and runs.

Interesting indeed.

It doesn't take long to track down her mark again. He stands out like a sore thumb in this part of the city, and she drops from her rooftop to follow him. Her half boots are almost silent on the cobbles and she shoves her hands into her pockets, hunching her shoulders a little and putting a slight drag into her step. It makes her look like an exhausted worker on their way home. Still, the mark, Khaj, is jumpy, far more so than she would have expected and after one too many glances over his shoulder she decides to call it a night and go home.

She isn't sure whether to be glad of it or not the following morning. She arrives at the Court to find Varik berating a pick pocket. The lad, dark of hair and eyes and likely no more than sixty, is heavily cut and bruised as Varik lashes at him with a cruel whip. The boy hardly whimpers, though Nori has to wonder whether it is really bravery or simply because he no longer _can_.

" _See_ him," Varik orders as soon as he spots her.

"It isn't as easy when they can't _speak_ ," she snaps, a lie of her own but she would prefer that Varik ordered her to find the truth _before_ beating them rather than after. "What's he supposed to have done?"

"Killed Khaj, the mark you've been tailing the last two days," Varik replies. How inconvenient, she thinks. "Which make me wonder where _you_ had gone to? Whoring yourself to the guard again, no doubt."

"Oh, don't I wish I _had_ been," she mutters, examining the young one and able to take a fairly good guess about what might have happened. "Khaj was getting twitchy," she adds when Varik glares, though she knows that he won't touch her. "I decided to back off rather than risk being spotted. And I'll bet he was twitchy because he hadn't had his fix. Seems the mark had a taste for poppy smoke."

Varik sneers, he makes good coin from the poppy dens, but he has little use for those who would muddy their minds. He gestures again to the young thief and Nori huffs.

"Can you talk?" She asks the youngster. He shakes his head and red flickers. She hates having to truth seek this way and the lad doesn't need more punishment from Varik than he has already endured. "You kill Khaj on purpose?" He shakes his head again and this time she doesn't see anything. "Lifting?" He nods. "Got caught?" Another nod. "Khaj pulled a blade?" He nods a third time and raises a hand to show a torn and bloodied sleeve. Khaj got a strike in, then. "Self defence," she concludes for Varik, who looks unhappy with the decision.

It happens, she knows, Nori has had to pull a knife more than once. The difference is that she has never had to _kill_ a mark, whether on purpose or by accident, and she refuses to take any job that requires her to deliberately kill someone. Nori is firmly of the opinion that if a dwarf wants someone dead, they ought to have the stones to do it themselves.

After a silent moment, Varik waves his hand in a declaration that he is as good as done with the situation. She releases a slow breath and disperses with the rest of them. While the others head out to their usual haunts Nori lingers out of sight and waits for the young one to emerge as he must eventually. When he does walk past her she reaches out and grabs him by the ear, dragging him down an alley and into a small building that the others avoid because it is structurally unsafe.

"I covered for you," she hisses, gripping the front of his tunic. "You owe me. _Talk_."

"I don't know what-" the young one begins and red flares.

" _Do not lie_ ," she snarls. "Start talking before I cut it out of you. Believe me, lad, if I _do,_ you're going to wish that I left you to Varik." Her reputation precedes her, that's the point of a reputation after all, and he quickly starts to talk.

"I lifted," he babbles, "that was the truth, I swear it, but it wasn't his poppy that he wanted back or his gold either." She lifts an eyebrow. "It was a piece of parchment, in my left pocket. I don't read, I don't know why it was so valuable, but I figured someone might know something and we could use it for some coin."

The slip of parchment that she pulls out is innocuous, but Nori has long learnt that the least important seeming things sometimes have more value than one might think. She unfolds the thing, releasing the lad and fixing him in place with a simple glare. She isn't in the mood for this. She needs to scope out a new mark, pick a few pockets to make up for the coin she's lost due to Khaj's death, and maybe visit Dwalin and see if she can convince him to go another round. Her eyebrows shoot up when she reads what has been written on the parchment.

This could be a problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Figure I should have another one up by Friday, I should be studying. Typical brain


	3. Warnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nori is a aware of how fortunate she is

Nori is a aware of how fortunate she is, a strange attitude given how poor her family were growing up. Poor enough that she took to stealing at any rate. Then Dori had completed his apprenticeship as a tailor, his clothes had caught the eye of several influential dwarves and their fortunes had soared. By that point, however, Nori had long realised how _good_ she is at what she does, and just how much fun she could have doing it. In the decades before Dori made their fortune, Nori had learnt more about herself, her hopes and fears, dreams and nightmares, than she had in the four decades before she had joined the Court of the Trickster King.

She had learnt more about her abilities as well.

Nori has always known when people lie to her, whether by speaking or in action. Red will flare around them and even as a pebble she would see it. Her mother would tell her that it made her special. Dori just claims it makes her impossible to deal with. She didn't find out what it really _meant_ , however, until she met her first Trickster King and accused him of lying to her. Jarl had laughed at her audacity and, after some careful questions, had proceeded to teach her about her strange ability. He called it 'The Sight' and Nori's is more honed than most, to the point where even a written lie is detectable to her eye. It doesn't just help her to see when someone might be lying to her, it also helps her see when a problem might arise. It is how she had become so _good_ at what she does.

The others call her 'Truth Seer' and that is the most basic understanding of what she can do. The only one who knew the full extent of her talent as well as she does was Jarl, and he's been gone nearly forty three years. He was the longest lasting Trickster King she served under, and the only one she has ever truly trusted. He helped her to build her reputation and taught her as much as he could. Her ability, he told her, is passed through bloodlines and, as her mother had told her when she was very young, hers came from her father. She probably would have learnt about it from him had he not been killed not long after she was born. She doesn't know all the circumstances of his death, only that he had been a 'Truth Seer' for King Thrain and that his death had been what had left them all destitute.

The legend says that they were not created with this ability, although Eru allowed for some of them to use the Gift as His creations could. All dwarves know that they were created by Mahal in the dark days before even the elves walked the face of the word due to His impatience with His Father's plans. They know that they were given life imperfect and that they were ordered destroyed as a proof of obedience until Eru relented and gave them true life. He ordered them to be placed in slumber, however, until the coming of the elves and Mahal had obeyed this order as He would have obeyed the other, though it might have broken His heart. This is known to all, elf, Man and dwarf alike. What the others do _not_ know, however, is that one of Mahal's servants stayed behind for a time to watch over the dwarves in the face of the every growing threat of The Corrupter. Some time after the dwarves had awoken and begun to multiply and become plentiful, the servant began to see the threat in the lies spouted by that enemy, and many others, and awoke in select descendants of the Seven Fathers The Sight, allowing them to see the truth in _all_ things.

Mahal's servant vanished after he had done this, and it wasn't until her people began to encounter the elves that they realised the true value of the gift that they had been given. A gift that Nori has inherited and one that would have placed her in the service of kings if not for the loss of her father. It is a gift that now sees her perching once more upon a rooftop, watching as the night shift filter into the outer city guardhouse to replace the day shift.

She must be out of her mind.

Avoiding the guard if one of her favourite parts of her job. The chase never fails to get her heart racing and set her blood to boiling. Nearly getting caught is one of the situations that will most often lead to her seeking out a former partner for a little fun. After _this_ little trip she will be very surprised if she doesn't do something _very_ stupid, as if doing this isn't stupid enough, and she isn't even all that sure _why_ she is in the first place. If Varik knew about the contents of the note he would shrug it off as one less guard to worry about, regardless of whether he is Nori's current favourite. Ordinarily, favourite or not, Nori would agree. She has this thing, however, _against_ innocent parties being framed for the crimes of others. It comes with being a Truth Seer.

Finally, she sees Dwalin enter and she moves. It isn't as dark as she would like for this, but if she waits for nightfall he will have left the building and started his rounds. Dwalin, however, is high enough up the ladder to have his own office, a curious thing since he has only been one of the city guard for a little less than a year. She didn't look into his life before, or how he ended up here, since she wanted a quick fuck, _not_ to set up house, but she's beginning to wish that she had. Still, this isn't the time to consider it given that she is scrambling up the side of the building to the window of the office Dwalin shares with his day shift counterpart. Fortunately, the day shift officer always leaves the window open and she's inside well before Dwalin reaches the door.

It is an impersonal room, perhaps no real surprise given that it is a shared space, but she half expects to see _something_ all the same. She sits at the desk, leaning in the chair with her feet propped on the top of it as she waits. The desk is a nice, solid piece that she can think of any number of uses for; none of which are why she is here, though they _could_ be a nice bonus.

"Mahal's fucking _balls_ , what are you doing here?" Dwalin snarls when he sees her, slamming the door closed behind him. "I should throw you in the cells right now."

"So do it," she shrugs. "It won't take me long to get out. Without what I've got, you'll be in there in a couple of days anyway. I thought you might like the warning."

" _What_ are you talking about?" He demands.

"A- _colleague_ picked a pocket last night, he found _this_ inside the coin purse," she holds the folded parchment up between two fingers. "Your name, your route, your office, and permission to complete the assassination now that they knew where to plant the evidence, given they already have motive. I'm impressed, whoever you've pissed off has a long arm, Dwalin."

He grabs the parchment from her, reading through it as the colour drains from his face.

"Why warn me?" He rasps.

"I've been asking myself _that_ since this morning," she huffs. "Risking my neck for a _guard_ has never been particularly _high_ on my list of priorities. But I like you, and if I could convince you to let go a little bit more we really could have a _huge_ amount of fun together. For a little while, anyway, and that can't happen if you're dead."

"Only a little while?" Dwalin asks.

"I get bored quickly," she tells him, getting to her feet and prowling towards him. "That a problem?"

"No," he mutters, "provided you could find it in yourself to get bored with me _sooner_ rather than later."

"Is that any way to speak to someone who's trying to help you?" She asks, running a hand down his stomach to toy with the laces on his trousers

" _Thief_ ," he grumbles, but he doesn't push her away or try to arrest her so she takes that as permission to continue.

"Yes, Guard?" She moves even closer, though her hand stays where it is, pushing up on her toes a little to see if he will take the bait.

"The task at hand," he prompts.

"I can multitask," she breathes. She has the laces of his trousers untied and loosened now, fingers reaching inside and he takes a sharp breath. "Can you?" Dwalin is hardening under her touch and he glares down at her as she strokes him lightly.

"Thief," he hisses again, and she wonders how her name would sound falling from his lips. It's a dangerous thought.

"Push me away," she challenges, "stop me," because they both know that he can.

He wavers, enough that she can poke and shove him into the chair behind his desk, enough that she can open his trousers enough to pull the length of him free. He's hot and hard and smooth in her hand and she strokes him, leaning in close and letting her breath ghost across his lips. He can still push her away, still stop her, she'll give him the chance. Nori will poke and prod and goad him into giving her what she wants, but she would never just _take_ it. He groans and she thinks that might cause him to remember where they are, _who_ they are, but he just pulls her into a bruising kiss that steals her breath.

It's going to be a while before she gets tired of _this_ one.

He bucks into her hand and she stills, breaking the kiss and sinking to her knees in front of him. For the first time she gets a good look at his cock, long, delightfully thick, flushed with arousal and already leaking. She grins, leaning in and running her tongue over the tip to taste him, fingers drifting to find his stones and she rolls them thoughtfully, aware of his hands clamping onto the side of the chair. Nori swirls her tongue around the head, taking a moment to admire Dwalin's almost desperate restraint, before gripping the base lightly and lowering her mouth. He shifts and, for a moment, she thinks he will drive himself forward, but then he stills and the only sound is a hiss as she slowly takes him in. He's big, possibly the largest that she has had. That's how she likes them, however, and she knows well how to take a cock like this, no matter _how_ she is taking it. She eases back up, hollowing her cheeks and flattening her tongue, following the movement with her hand. She repeats her previous actions, taking him deeper each time until he bumps the back of her throat.

Her free hand has been no less busy, working into her trousers to allow her to trace increasingly firm circles over her pearl. The angle, however, is no good to dip them inside though she longs to be filled and stretched. She doesn't think Dwalin would object if she decided to stop sucking him and impaled herself upon him instead. In fact, she's willing to bet that with just a little nudge he might bend her over the desk and fuck her until she sees stars. Nori is flexible enough to change plans at the last minute and she could be tempted now, but then one of Dwalin's hands comes to the back of her head and fists into her hair. His hips buck, his grip firm enough to hold her in place, and the fact that she has made him lose control like this just by using her mouth is so satisfying that she decides to continue as they are. It doesn't take long for him to spill into her mouth with a grunt and she swallows every drop he gives her as her hand moves more frantically. Dwalin slumps back in his chair, watching her with hooded eyes and she bites her lip to muffle her cry as she finally topples into her release, eyes slipping closed.

He is still watching when she opens them again, his blue eyes dark as he rights himself. She smirks, raising her fingers to her lips, only for a large hand to grab her wrist. She arches an eyebrow, already starting to think of a way to break loose, when he takes a finger into his mouth, swirling his tongue around it in much the same way she had his cock, licking her clean of her own essence. Nori groans as Dwalin repeats the action with the next finger, feeling her own arousal spike once more.

"You aren't the only one who knows this game, thief," he tells her softly once he is done.

"Even better," she grins. The sun has set fully while they were busy. Her hair is likely a mess, but at least that will lead anyone who sees her leave to conclude she had come and visited him for a far more shallow reason than giving Dwalin a warning. The thought makes her look at the parchment. "What will you do about that?" She asks.

Dwalin follows her gaze.

"How much do you know about how I came to be here?" He shoves the note into his pocket.

"Not enough," she replies, deciding it is something that she needs to rectify sooner rather than later. Dwalin, however, looks pleased.

"I'll get the appropriate warnings to the right people," he says, "then I'll see if I can find out who is behind this." Loud footsteps sound in the corridor "Go," he orders, "quickly. I won't have you caught for trying to help me."

She does as he says, climbing out of the window just before she hears the door open.

"Good luck," she breathes as she climbs down and slips away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know either. I'm just listening to the story she's telling me. I said it would be Friday before I got this up, but she didn't want to hush, hopefully she'll let Billana get a few words in now.


	4. Locked up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two weeks go by before Nori allows herself to think about Dwalin outside the privacy of her own room.

Two weeks go by before Nori allows herself to think about Dwalin outside the privacy of her own room. She gave up living with Dori and Ori years ago, being a member of the Trickster's Court isn't something that her older brother approves of and the argument comes up every week when she joins the two of them for dinner. Her frustration with the recurring fight had led her to seek alternative accommodation and she now rents a nice enough room above a tavern for a price that is a fraction of what another might pay in her stead. The fact that the tavern is the residence of a member of the Court, however, means that other Tricksters avoid hitting its patrons and the only one that robs the customers is the owner himself.

The thoughts she has of Dwalin when she is alone are not the sort to do with the note or his mysterious enemy. They are the sort that cause her to run her hands over her body, pinching at her nipples and toying with her pearl until she is soaked and gasping for release. Nori is an expert at finding her own pleasure when she can't find anyone else to provide it for her. Lately her tastes have been a little too specific for her to seek out an alternative.

It isn't until she finds herself standing in the alley where he first fucked her that she realises she hasn't seen any sign of Dwalin for weeks. It makes worry niggle at her even though she knows that she hasn't spent as much time around his usual routes as she has in the past. She leans against the wall he had pressed her against, memories pushed to one side in favour of thinking about whether she has seen anything at all to indicate that her warning to him came in time. She can't think of anything and she grumbles as she realises that if she wants to satisfy her curiosity about the outcome she is going to have to track Dwalin down.

She starts by making enquiries. Not the direct sort where she uses his name, she doesn't need to arouse any sort of suspicion. She browses stalls in the market and talks to the street vendors who work at night around the brothels. She asks after the brute of a guard with the torn ear and tattoos and they all know her well enough to assume that she is asking for a completely different reason. More than one, in fact, offers to take his place, telling her that he's too good and decent to give her the proper fucking that she needs. It makes her wonder how many of them have seen her with her various partners and that makes heat pool in her. Nori doesn't mind being watched, sometimes it's part of the fun.

Eventually, she decides that if the gold won't come to the dragon, the dragon will have to go to the gold. An unfortunate metaphor given her people's history, but apt nonetheless. She hates sitting on the roof across from the guard house during the daylight hours, but there is nothing else for it if she wants to see whether Dwalin arrives for work. Irritation flashes through her when she sees him enter the building, though whether she is annoyed that he is alright or that he hasn't made himself available to her, for whichever reason, she isn't sure. She half way considers climbing the wall of the building and breaking into his office again, just to see what he has to say for himself, and to hopefully get a quick fuck in, when she thinks the better of it. Breaking into the guard house is always risky and it won't be long until Varik's enforcers turn up to break out this week's prisoners.

Members of the Court of the Trickster rarely remain in the cells for long. They either break themselves out, as Nori usually does, or they are given the opportunity to get out twice a week when the enforcers come in and break them out. Provided they have the coin, of course, and there are always one or two who don't. These days Nori is too good to get caught and locked up unless she _wants_ to. Which makes her more than capable of getting out again and when she breaks free she will usually take as many of her colleagues with her as possible. Coin is all well and good, but a favour owed is sometimes better. Nori has a lot of favours owed her. Tonight she takes advantage of the fact that the enforcers are due to arrive by slipping into the cells once they have been, leaving a note on the desk for Tor to take to Dwalin and she wonders if the guard captain will ever figure out that three of the guards responsible for keeping an eye on the cells have close ties with the Court and always conveniently make themselves scarce. The note heavily implies three things depending on who reads it; either Nori is an informant for Dwalin, Dwalin is accepting pay offs from her or Nori is looking for a good fuck.

That isn't too far off the truth.

Slipping into the specified cell isn't all that difficult. She has deliberately told him to meet her in one of the cells used to confine single prisoners who might be dangerous to others. The solitary cells aren't all that big, but they're private. Nori may not mind having an audience for a lot of things, but this is not a discussion that she wants to be seen having. The room itself is about as long and wide as the length of the narrow cot that runs across the back wall. There is a small window above, too small to need any bars, and walls of solid stone. The door is made up of steel bars and she pulls it closed behind her as she steps inside, better to keep up the illusion that she has been locked up. The enforcers usually come with only a couple of hours until dawn, which means that she has time to wait for Dwalin and she settles onto the cot, hands behind her head as she stares up at the ceiling.

Predictably, she gets bored.

Nori can be infinitely patient when she needs to be, but patience is not the same as being occupied and right now she has absolutely nothing to do except think. Given the direction her thoughts tend to take when she's alone, that is a dangerous route, and she sits and slips out one of her knives, flicking the sheathed blade between her fingers as she tries to keep her mind on track. Waiting for Dwalin, however, gives her cause to think about their last meeting and as much as she would like to keep her thoughts on this far reaching enemy of his and the mystery of how he came to be serving here with so many perks, she cannot seem to help thinking about the feel of him in her mouth. She can't help but remember the taste of him and the barely restrained strength of him when he had started to fuck her mouth. Heat pools low in her belly and she huffs in false irritation. She has time, after all, and it hardly matters if someone catches her pleasuring herself in the cell.

Half boots and trousers are quickly removed, they will only be in the way in any case, and her coat is spread beneath her to provide a barrier between the cool cot and her heated skin. Removing her tunics is a waste of time and she settles for pinching at her nipples through layers of fabric, twisting and rolling them until they are just the right side of painful and leaving them sensitive enough that the shift of skin against fabric is enough to make her catch her breath. Then her hands drift down, meandering lazily and drawing light circles until she finds that magical spot between her legs. Nori knows herself well enough not to touch her pearl straight away, instead dipping a single finger into her cunt, already wet. Then she moves back up, circling slowly and returning on occasion to dip her fingers into her core. All too soon, however, she realises that this isn't going to be enough.

Were she in her own room she would have a number of toys at her finger tips and she quite enjoys her collection. In this cell, however, there is nothing except her own hands and she grumbles in frustration. Her eyes, closed to allow her to lose herself in her fantasy, open and she looks around until they fall on the hilt of her knife. The blade is sheathed, and it is an odd one in that the sheath clips in place mostly due to where she likes to keep it. The hilt, however, is about as wide as two of her fingers and long enough to serve the purpose she has in mind. It wouldn't be the first time she has used a knife like this anyway, she had a lover once who quite liked watching her fuck herself with one. Mind made up she holds it carefully, making sure that the catch is in place, then carefully inserts the hilt. It is cold as it enters her and she shivers slightly, but it will warm quickly enough, and while it isn't wide enough to stretch her it still feels better than her fingers.

She shifts to get a better angle, leaning with her shoulders against the wall and her centre just off the edge of the narrow cot, legs spread wide as her finger rubs at her pearl and she thrusts the hilt of her knife into her dripping cunt. She groans at the feeling, it isn't quite what she needs but it will probably be enough, and she is rapidly approaching the crest of her orgasm when she hears a groan in the door and her eyes pop open.

Dwalin stands there, blue eyes wide and impossibly dark in the dimly lit corridor. He is already fumbling with the laces of his trousers and his expression is hungry.

"Enjoying the show, guard?" She asks, her voice breathless with the nearness of her peak and she twist the knife, just a little, enough to make her moan.

Dwalin doesn't answer, just stares as she resumes pleasuring herself, although now she keeps her focus on him instead of the images in her mind. Her release is building up again rapidly now, and she feels her eyes flutter shut as it draws ever nearer. She is surprised, therefore, when she hears the door open and the stomp of Dwalin's boots, even more so when he yanks her from the edge of the bed, the blade clattering on the stone floor as it is dislodged, and onto her knees before him. His hard cock is already out of his trousers and Nori opens her mouth eagerly, not resisting when he puts one hand on the back of her head and forces her to take him almost to the hilt. He fucks into her mouth and she moans around him, her own hand moving in time to the thrust of his hips and she feels herself crash into an orgasm, screams muffled by the cock in her mouth, and she knows that Dwalin is almost there with her. He stops, however, just as she thinks he is going to spill himself, yanking her to her feet and spinning her, kicking her legs apart and pressing her hands against the wall. His hand trails down one arm, following the line of it to her torso, pausing at one breast to pinch a nipple through her shirt as hard as he can and she gasps at the feeling, pushing back against him as his other hand forces her hips to still. He continues down, touch firm, until he finds her soaked core. He pumps his fingers in twice, stretching her on three of them until she is trying to find even a little bit of friction.

She whimpers when he removes them, hating the empty feeling and knowing that another peak was just around the corner, then his cock breaches her and she moans. He moves impossibly slowly, entering her inch by inch at a pace that leaves her trembling. She had thought the stretch and burn of him ramming home had been good, but it's nothing compared to this. She's babbling by the time he is fully sheathed, begging him to fuck her, to give her something, anything, if he will only let her find her release.

"Your wish is my command," he mutters and he doesn't hold back, drawing back and slamming back into her hard enough to drag a shout from her.

He doesn't slow and she may have made _him_ lose control the last time she saw him but he has all of it now. His pace and angle is perfect and he drags her screaming over the edge twice more, one hand over her mouth to muffle the sound and one roughly tracing her pearl as he pulls her through each one. Finally, when she has fallen to her knees, pinned to the bed as he fucks into her, Dwalin lets out a roar, spilling into her with enough force to drag her over into one final release. She doesn't think she could stand if she wanted to and she clings to the far edge of the cot to stop herself from toppling to the floor. Dwalin isn't in much better shape, although he does fall into a heap next to her, his breath coming ragged gasps. She laughs breathlessly. If he decided to leave her here and lock the door behind him she wouldn't be able to do anything other than accept it and it's an odd feeling, the mix of euphoria and dread.

Finally, however, Dwalin speaks.

"What are you doing here?" He demands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just going to go... over there... somewhere. I don't even know, the end of this chapter was one of the clearest things that Nori was whispering to me as soon as I was done with the "Nori telling loud, naughty stories" part of Mirkwood. I like to think that she probably told this one. Most likely told this one. But as for me.... I have no idea where this came from.


	5. The Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What are you doing here?" Dwalin demands.

"What are you doing here?" Dwalin demands.

For some reason, though she cannot yet make her brain function enough to determine what that might be, Nori dissolves into helpless giggles at the question. Her breath is coming in ragged gasps as she loses her grip on the edge of the cot and collapses onto the cold stone floor next to him, though even that doesn't seem to stop the laugh that bubbles out of her. They're both a mess and there is little chance that either of them will be able to pull themselves together enough to fully disguise the fact that Nori may well have just had one of the most mind-blowing fucks she has ever experienced. Which is saying something for a dwarf with her experience. She isn't even completely certain that she's going to be able to _walk_ out of this cell, yet _somehow_ Dwalin still has the mental capacity to ask _'why she's here'._

"Wasn't it obvious?" She says finally, rolling her head to look at him with a grin that she cannot seem to squash on her lips.

"That's what you _want_ me to think," he huffs a laugh. "But I'm starting to think that you never do _anything_ without an ulterior motive."

"I'd resent that," she groans, reaching for her discarded clothes, "if it wasn't at least partially true."

"Partially?" He prompts, though he doesn't move from where he has collapsed on the floor.

"I was curious," she admits, wriggling back into her trousers and biting back a groan at the ache that small movement causes and the reminder of the absolutely delicious way she earned it. She might regret it when she tries to sneak out later, but for the moment it only makes her mind drift to the different ways she might be able to use this information. "I wanted to know if you managed to prevent the murder you were going to be framed for."

"Aye, we stopped it," Dwalin says slowly. "Why do you care?"

"Because you're a fantastic fuck," she tells him bluntly, as though the fact that she's still lounging almost bonelessly on the cold floor isn't clue enough.

"And your boss wants to know what the assassin told us," he adds darkly, and that draws another laugh from her.

"My boss doesn't know I'm here," she waves it off. "And I doubt you would have gotten anything from the assassin in any case. They never know the identity of the client, only the mark. It's better for all involved that way."

"Marks," Dwalin corrects her, his voice tight. "And if not for your warning we never would have stopped it. Their Ma sends her thanks." That makes her good humour evaporate. "Their uncle sends a message for your boss, I told him I knew the perfect one to deliver it." She raises an eyebrow. "If he _ever_ allows one of his people to try and kill Fili or Kili again, Thorin will lead the guard himself in purging the Trickster's Court from the city and any dwarf settlement that you may decide to run to."

Nori stares. She knows from some of her less than discrete enquiries that Dwalin is closely related to the king of Durin's folk. _Her_ brother works for _his_ brother, in fact, which is one of the reasons that she refuses to tell the big guard her name. Dori gets upset enough about her less than legal activities, she thinks he would burst into flames if he knew the kinds of antics she got up to in and out of the bedroom. Truth be told, however, she hadn't thought on it all that much. The fact that Dwalin is in this part of the city suggests that he is estranged from both brother _and_ cousins, given that they all live and work in the newer section of the city known as Thorin's halls. She's slipping, she realises, and falling into the over confident pit that comes from going too long without getting caught. She knows better.

"I can deliver the message," she says, and she will, "but neither the Trickster King nor his dealers will have organised this. This one's greedy, but he's not stupid," Dwalin grunts dubiously. "We all know what would happen if the Court were to be found mixed up in an attempt on Thorin Oakenshield or his sister's sons. The rules he has for the Death Dealers are very simple: No children, and no one in line to the throne." The one _on_ the throne is another matter provided he has an heir, but she doesn't tell Dwalin that. "That kind of upheaval isn't good for people in our line of work. We like it peaceful and stable because that's when people are less vigilant." Dwalin glares.

"If not one of yours, then who's?" He demands. "He had Trickster marks sewn into his clothes, same as you." Nori shakes her head.

"Death Dealers never have it where it can be found _easily_ , nor obviously," she says slowly, aware that she is not beginning to tread very close to things that she should _not_ be sharing. "The Court isn't the only group of people in my line of work in Ered Luin." It is a large mountain range after all.

"Criminals," Dwalin grunts.

"Criminals," she shrugs. "Belegost and the villages around us belong to the Court, but Nogrod and the North belong the Claw and they don't have all of the same scruples."

"So they may have provided the assassin?" Dwalin presses. "Knowing that if the lads were killed and him caught, Thorin would come down upon all of you."

"I have no idea," she admits, truth be told she tries to avoid being around when the leader of the Claw comes to speak with Varik, and she never goes north where he might find her. "I wish you luck in working it out."

"You aren't going to help?" He asks as she pushes herself to her feet. "There's more to this and you know it."

"I have helped," she replies, "and if I get caught doing any more than I have, I'm dead. As it happens, I'm actually very fond of my life, and I've already told you too much."

"You're a Truth Seer," he says, also getting to his feet so that he can grab her hand. "You should be in service to a king, a real one and not a thief king. We _need_ you," she looks away. One thing she hears all too frequently is that others need her for her ability and she hates it, though at least her ability allows her to see her true friends. "We caught the one who was trying to set me up in the act and I need to know what he does. Helping us will gain you some powerful allies."

"Thorin isn't as powerful as he likes to think," she shakes her head. "He couldn't protect me from Varik, _or_ the Court."

"I hadn't taken you for a coward," he snarls.

"It's not cowardice," she whispers, meeting his eyes and willing him to understand. "It's prudence."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."

That stings and the pain is unexpected. Nori doesn't get attached, in a life like hers the idea of a spouse and children is a distant thing. It might happen one day, but she isn't looking for it. One doesn't simply _leave_ the Court after all, especially not one as high up the ladder as she is. Besides, being tied to one or two, or even three, dwarves for the rest of her life would eventually grow dull. Nori doesn't _do_ dull, and so she has no idea why Dwalin's words hit her as hard as they do. Nor does she understand why they make an angry fire well up inside her with the desire to prove him wrong.

"I told you," she snaps, "I warned you because you're good fuck with a cock you actually know how to use, there's a lack of those and I had no interest in it disappearing until I was bored of it. That isn't anything other than self interest."

"Liar," he leans in close to her, pulling her against him. "Tell me you aren't still curious. Tell me you don't want to know what's going on. Tell me you don't want to know why I'm really here. I know you looked into me, word is that you always do."

"Prudent self interest," she breathes, running her free hand down his chest. "I needed to be sure you were going to live up to all this promise."

She refuses to admit that he is right. The longer they have been talking the more curious she has become. There _is_ more to this, whether Varik is involved or not, and she knows herself well enough to know that she wouldn't be able to resist looking into things for all that long. As soon as she realised that the plot involved the young princes, she had realised that whatever she has stumbled into is huge. Someone wants the princes out of the way, and she would do better to turn her back, walk away, and let things play out.

She never could leave well enough alone.

"If I am found helping you," she repeats, "they _will_ kill me. And very likely you as well. Do you understand that?"

"People wanting to get me out of the way comes with being in the Royal Guard, lass," he shrugs. "Will you help us?"

"I'll do some digging," she tells him, "but I won't make any promises."

She's surprised when he drags her into a hard kiss, the kind of deep kiss that makes her toes curl and interest coil deep in her belly though she doubts she could manage another round right now. She slips away quickly once he releases her, not wanting to draw this whole thing out any longer than it already has been and wondering _how_ such a satisfying fuck managed to turn into such a confusing mess of questions and emotions. It has left her wondering why she feels such a deep need to prove herself to Dwalin when ordinarily she would walk away and never look back, no amount of mind-blowing orgasms could be worth this.

Except a small part of her thinks that they really might be, and so she decides to dig more into the large guard as she slips into the tunnel that the enforcers use during their prison breaks. She knows the exits, perhaps better than she should, and she emerges just far enough away from the guardhouse to keep others from getting suspicious. Her first stop, of course, will be Ori. Much as she hates spending too much time with Dori, she makes certain to join her family for dinner once a week for Ori's sake. She's quite firmly of the opinion that Ori needs a little bit of mischief in his life and she has always been happy to provide that. This time, however, it is not mischief that she intends to cause. Her brother works for Dwalin's brother, Balin, and has done for long enough that he must have encountered the guard before he fell into disfavour, something she sincerely doubts actually happened given some of Dwalin's words. She hopes that Ori will be able to tell her more about what is going on, he's generally so quiet that people forget he's there most of the time.

Today is Ori's rest day. That happens to be less about luck and more about planning on her part. After planning for her confrontation with Dwalin she had had realised that there would be more answers she would need and she hadn't wanted to have to wait days before getting Ori alone. Dori will be in his shop, both of her brothers live above it in one of the better sections of town, and she should be able to slip up the back steps while her big brother is busy. Preparations must be made, however, before she does so. Dori will never let it lie if she is seen slipping in wearing what he calls her street clothes, and her hair is going to be almost unsalvageable without a bath and some oils. Not to mention she rather suspects that she smells very strongly of sex. Ori probably wouldn't notice, Dori would have an apoplexy.

She isn't far from the tavern she calls home, so it doesn't take much to stop by and grab what she needs. In fact, one of the reasons she chose this place in particular is that her rooms have an external entrance as well as one reached via the main room, and that it is across the street from the public baths for this part of town. This early in the day they are quiet and she slips in for a quick scrub before retiring to one of the more private dressing rooms and donning her outfit for the day. If Dwalin were to bump into her in the street she doubts he would recognise her. For starters, she is wearing a dress, a rather nice design of Dori's in green that won't draw too much attention in this part of town _or_ the area she is heading to. She foregoes her usual peaks as well, settling for keeping her beard in a simple clasp and her auburn hair loose aside from twin braids on either side. Simple enough to drive Dori up the wall, and different enough to keep her from being immediately recognised by any but those who know her like this.

She still wears her light half boots, and has more knives than would seem practical hidden about her person, but with the dark blue cloak pulled about her shoulders she looks like little more than a clueless young dam wandering the town. It's the way that she _wants_ to look and she only makes a brief stop in her rooms before heading across the city to find her little brother. She doesn't miss the two shadows that begin to follow her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is getting more complicated than I thought it would (don't they always) but it will still be shorter than the main story so there's that.


	6. Ori

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fact that Nori has to waste time losing her shadows in the crowds of Belegost annoys her.

The fact that Nori has to waste time losing her shadows in the crowds of Belegost annoys her. It makes it even worse that she recognises them as two of Varik's enforcers. He's gone stone brained, she fumes, if he thinks that enforcers are the right dwarves to set to following her. He's even worse if he thinks she would be stupid enough to betray the Court, even for a lay as good as Dwalin. What she needs, however, is answers and the ones she requires are not the sort she can get in her usual part of the city.

Ori is on edge when he opens the door to her knock. Nori could just let herself in, of course, but that hardly fits with her disguise which only really serves to fool an idle watcher or one or doesn't know her. Her brother's eyes are a little wild around the edges when he sees it's her and it occurs to her that the last couple of times she has been here he has been a little bit twitchy. It's worse now and she curses herself for not realising that it might be more than a deadline on some document or another even though he always gets himself into something of a state when something he's working on is due. Now she's certain there is more to it and she's starting to wonder if the source of Ori's odd behaviour may not be the same thing she has come to investigate.

"You shouldn't be here," Ori says as she sets about making tea,. She would prefer something stronger, but Dori claims ale sours his stomach and wine is an unnecessary drain on funds. "I asked Bofur to get word to you when I saw him the other day but he said he hasn't seen you for months."

"I haven't been into that part of town for a while," she replies simply, rather than tell him that she hasn't stolen anything she's wanted valued before taking it to a fence. She's been doing this long enough to have a good eye for the value of things, but sometimes she wants her instincts confirmed and sometimes she wants to hear the gossip Bofur has that she might not have access to. It's always good to keep an ear to the ground for information that could impact her or the Court. "Anyway, is that how you greet your sister?" Obediently he carefully wraps his arms around her, mindful of the number of blades she always carries. "What's got you so twitchy?"

"There's people watching the house," Ori tells her.

"People are always watching the house," she reminds him. "It comes with having a sister as high up the ladder in the Court as I am. Varik watches our families, you know that."

"Not Varik," Ori shakes his head. "I _know_ Varik's lot. This is someone else. I think it might be Thorin."

"And why would our throneless king want to watch you?" She asks, keeping her voice mildly amused but feeling the sharp stab of something dark coil deep inside her. She already knows the answer, she knew it as soon as he opened his mouth. This isn't about Ori at all, this is about _her_.

"They want you," her little brother confesses. He's a little bit over fifteen years younger than she is and yet, in this moment, he looks even younger and terrified. "And it's _my_ fault, Nori, I'm so _sorry._ "

"What did you do?" She demands, her tone sharper than she intends and her eyes hard. Even so, she thinks she knows the answer to _that_ as well.

"It was about a year ago and Balin was talking to Thorin about needing to find someone with the Sight," Ori fiddles with one fingerless glove, the ever present ink stains a stark contrast to his pale skin. "He was telling me about what can be done with it after he finished with king, I think he wanted me to look through the records to see if we could locate any of the families, and he got some of it wrong. I corrected him, but then he thought it was me and I had to tell him it wasn't, of course. I thought he let it go."

"Oh, _Ori_ ," she breathes.

They've never outright said that her ability needs to be kept a secret. It isn't the sort of thing they would expect to come up in casual conversation anyway and it's so much rarer than the Gift that most think it's a myth regardless. Dori never mentions it because, as a rule, he doesn't like mentioning his wayward sister with her rather flexible understanding of property ownership. Ori doesn't mention it because Dori has always told him not to mention _her_.

"I knew as soon as I'd said it that I'd made a mistake," he says quickly, "but Balin didn't say anything at first and I thought he'd just thought I'd done some reading on the subject. Then he asked about _your_ father and what you and Dori do, and questions about my family, and our mother, and it didn't seem like anything, I just thought he was taking an interest in me because I work with him nearly all the time these days so I didn't think it _meant_ anything."

Nori pinches the bridge of her nose and frowns, careful not to dislodge her eyebrows which are, as always, artfully braided into her hair at her temples. Idly, she wonders if she should just trim them like so many of the other 'dams do, but then shoves it from her mind. This is not the time for such concerns. She has larger problems to worry about and all of them seem to be coming back to _one_ large thing in particular.

Dwalin.

"Tell me about his brother," she says and Ori stares at her for the abrupt change of subject. "Dwalin. Tell me what you know about him."

"Why do you want to know about _Dwalin_?" He demands and she grins at him wickedly. "Forget it, don't tell me. I'm still disturbed after the last time you decided to share some of the things you get up to." He shudders. "I don't really _know_ him, I have no idea what you tell you. He's completely different from Balin, not really the type for reports and contracts and treaties and things. Actually, he's exactly the type you seem to look for, thinking about it. He _was_ the captain of the Royal Guard, but he hasn't been around much recently. I heard rumours from the others that he had some sort of falling out with Thorin and quit, but they don't really talk to me all that much about things like that."

"When?" She presses. "When did he quit?"

"A little under a year ago, I guess," Ori shrugs and her heart sinks as his reply matches her suspicions. "It might have been longer. I never really paid that much attention to him." That cold feeling is back, filling her rapidly and bringing a terrible suspicion in it's wake. "What happened? He hasn't hurt you?" Ori asks in alarm.

"Only in the way that I wanted him to," she assures him and her brother flushes. "Let me think for a moment."

He goes silent, though his worried gaze doesn't leave her as Nori begins to pace, once more wishing that Dori would keep some ale, or even something stronger still, in the house. Dwalin may very well have been manipulating her, she realises, and with a level of skill she would never have expected from him. For the most part he has been very careful not to lie to her, the only times that he _has_ have been when she has been deliberately trying to rile him and he has been resisting her advances. Nori has the Sight, but it's only really good for telling her when someone, or something, is lying and if a problem might be caused. Her Sight had not been triggered by anything from Dwalin _other_ than his insistence that he didn't want to fuck her. If _he_ had been the one trying to deliberately manipulate her he would have triggered _some_ part of her in warning. She reads people, even without wanting to know if they are lying she needs to have an idea if a mark is viable and so she needs to be able to work out as much about them as she can with only a glance, Dwalin doesn't have it in him to manipulate someone. His brother, on the other hand, if what Ori has told her is true, very likely _is_ able to. Ori's career has come on leaps and bounds over the last few years, ever since Balin noticed him, and as talented as she knows Ori is, she can't help but wonder if that notice came for another reason entirely. She doesn't say any of this to Ori, none of it would be helpful, she just considers the odd series of circumstances that brought her here in the first place.

Meeting Dwalin isn't so odd, he could well have had an argument with Thorin and walked away. From what Nori has heard Thorin isn't the easiest of dwarves to get along with. His experience as captain of the Royal Guard would easily have gained him a higher position in the City Guard than the standard new recruit. Where it starts to fall apart is this plot to kill the two princes and frame Dwalin for it. If Dwalin was as close to Thorin as being captain of his family's guard, she cannot imagine anyone believing he would target two innocent lads that he would more than likely know very well. In fact, even the little bit that she knows him leads her to believe that he would never do such a thing and no amount of evidence to the contrary would convince her otherwise. If it wouldn't be possible to convince _her_ that Dwalin hurt the little princes, it would be impossible to convince the people who know him as well. The whole thing is just too convoluted and too risky, even if the assassin didn't know anything, the fixer might and they caught the fixer.

She stops pacing.

They caught the fixer. Dwalin had mentioned it to her that morning, and that they were having trouble getting any information out of him. If there's one thing that Nori is good at, it's getting information out of those reluctant to give it. Whether the fixer is one she knows or not, the reputation of Varik's Truth Seer is known throughout the mountains and it is one of the reasons that she avoids the leader of the Claw when he visits. He likes to test her ability and it gives her a headache to see so much red around _one_ dwarf.

"If they had a prisoner, where would they keep him?" She asks, unlacing the bodice of her dress and pulling it down.

The nice thing about this dress is that it is one Dori made for her, and is little more than a sleeveless bodice with a skirt attached that she wears a shirt underneath. By stripping it off she can quickly be in her trousers and a shirt if she needs them. Then she can just as quickly be in the dress again afterwards. The sleeves of the shirt billow more than she would like usually, but they're fine in a pinch.

"In the cells," he answers as she splits her beard to braid it back into her hair and then braids the whole lot down her back. "What are you doing?"

"Getting answers," she says simply. "Your new friends won't see me leave, don't worry. I may not be back this week, I'll come when I can."

"Nori," he tries to stop her. "Whatever's happening-"

"I need to figure it out," she tells him, "I won't have you caught up in this mess as well. If nothing else I'll get rid of Thorin's people."

"Be careful," Ori mutters.

"Where's the fun in that?" She smirks and slips out of the window before he can answer.

She clambers onto the roof, almost able to _hear_ Dori fretting about his tiles and the neighbours as she does it. She firmly believes that he worries too much about things like that, but then although the popularity of his clothes depends primarily on his skill, there is an element that also relies on his reputation. Which is why Nori is always careful to at least wear one of the dresses he made for her and style her hair differently. At a glance no one would take her for the peak-haired thief from the lower city and it means that she can move around without drawing as much attention to herself. Much as her brother annoys her, she loves him too much to risk ruining his business, no matter that everyone insists that it is the _personal_ faults that matter rather than the family ones. She knows as well as anyone that isn't always the case.

Thorin's watchers she spots easily, they aren't the most unobtrusive dwarves, and she shakes her head. Once she has what she came for she might just pay the king of Durin's folk a quick visit to persuade him to withdraw them. Even without Ori having pointed them out, she would have spotted them when she left. Little wonder Varik is having her followed if Thorin is watching her family. Working her way over the upper city is easy, the houses are not built so closely together but that doesn't matter as much. The streets are quieter and the more ornate nature of them makes it easier to hide should she need to. She doesn't. In fact, getting into the halls that Thorin calls home is almost embarrassingly easy and the thought that she is perhaps being manipulated occurs to her again. Security should be far tighter considering that someone tried to kill the princes only days ago. At the very least she should have come across warding spells. There's nothing and she almost turns back, returns to the Court to tell Varik everything so that he can deal with it.

Curiosity was always her downfall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would have had something up days ago, except I've been sick and killed my writing brain for a while. Nori woke up first so she gets the next chapter. But Billana's is half done so that will hopefully be up when I get a moment between catching up with my studies. I need to stop doing all the things.


	7. Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finding the fixer is harder than she had thought given how easy the rest has been so far.

Finding the fixer is harder than she had thought given how easy the rest has been so far. She suspects, however, that no matter how much the situation she is in has been manufactured as part of some bizarre plan, the matter of the fixer is one that they don't want to risk messing up. He is, as she should have expected, in one of the furthest cells from the stairs. It is a room made entirely of bars, the fixer chained to a chair in the centre of them and she smirks at him as he glares at her with hard eyes. Like all fixers and assassins he keeps his braids and beard pulled tightly back, nothing worse than a mark grabbing a fist full of hair in the moment, or being spotted and recognised later. Nori knows Varik's fixers, however, and this is not one of them. He sneers at her, obviously expecting her to come closer to the bars and she grins back. He would, in fact, probably be very much her type, with broad shoulders and muscles that strain against his shirt, his nose has obviously been broken when he had been captured and it's still off to one side where it evidenty hasn't been set.

"Well," she mutters, "I think I would remember having met _you_."

"You would be Varik's bitch, then," he says, and she bows mockingly in reply.

"Very observant, well done," she smiles. "Brawn and brains, lucky me."

He sniffs and Nori carefully removes her collection of knives from their various hiding places, keeping only the lock picks from her belt buckle and a small knife up her sleeve. It will be easy enough to keep away from him, although he's firmly chained in place so he won't be able to cut himself free regardless. She picks the lock quickly once more surprised by the fact that there aren't any spells on the door to prevent her from getting away with it. Either Thorin is over confident about his security or someone wants her in here. She saunters in, coming to a halt in front of him and tilting her head in what looks like consideration. In truth she already knows what she's going to do, and how he is likely to respond. Then she straddles him and settles herself on his lap, leaning back a little to get a good look at him and crossing her wrists behind his neck, her lower lip caught between her teeth as she examines him.

"I won't tell you anything," he says, "there's nothing you can offer me that will make me squeal."

"Who said I wanted to know anything?" She shrugs. "I just wanted to confirm a few things for myself."

"For your boss," he snarls. "Saarn told me your little secret. You can't get any truth out of me if I don't tell you my name."

She laughs at that, though he seems to genuinely believe it and there is no hint of a lie. Saarn may well have told the ones involved in this that she was no danger to them. Unfortunately, Saarn is either more clueless about how her ability works than Varik is or simply lying much as he always does. He uses her moment of amusement to shift and she grabs the thick braid of hair at the back of his head before he can rear forward to smash his face into hers. He roars when he encounters the resistance, her mother's strength aiding her greatly now even though she never had the full measure in the way that Dori does.

"That wasn't nice," she purrs, yanking a little on his hair and seeing the little tells about his eyes that show he's biting down a cry of pain. "Not nice at all, I don't normally let lads hurt me until we're on a first name basis and have the proper measures in place. I'm disappointed, really, I just wanted to have a civil conversation and see if the rest of you is as delightfully large as your shoulders. Besides, you've already confirmed that you work for the Claw which means that you should know that Saarn lies. It seems to be his natural state, I've never known a dwarf to lie quite _that_ much." He stills. "And that means I know where your ink is, and I'll be taking it."

"Bitch!" He spits.

"Yes," she agrees. "All I want to know is who hired you. I doubt very much Saarn wants Varik to declare war over this."

"Of course he does," is the snapped reply, and red flashes. "He wants all of Ered Luin under his control." The flare is brighter now. Interesting.

"Liar," she breathes, coming close enough to brush her lips against his. "I don't like liars," she adds, "But maybe I'll let you make it up to me." When she pulls back he is staring at her with wide eyes. "Who hired you?"

"I wasn't told his name," the fixer whispers. More red. "I was told it was a fix up, that the target was important and I just had to get the tunic in and get out." That much, at least, is true.

"Tell me the name," she says again, "I don't want to have to go into your mind and steal it." He pales,. She can't do any such thing, of course, but those with the Sight are so rare that others who are ignorant of how it works will believe almost anything. "It'll hurt, and if I _really_ have to dig there won't be anything left of you. You'd be nothing more than empty stone, sitting in your own shit and piss while they spoon feed you. Unless you're lucky and they kill you first, but you'll have to feel me burn your mind out of your head." He gives her the name almost instantly and Nori immediately demands that he tells her everything he knows.

By the time he is done many of Nori's suspicions are confirmed and she has a few more for good measure. There has been a great deal of behind the scenes work going on here and it raises questions that she would rather not ask herself. She's been played for a fool, she knows now, but she doesn't know if she is the only one. If she is heads are going to roll and hers will likely be among them, as will the fool lad who killed Khaj for the sake of getting a note into her hands. Whether Khaj was genuinely involved or not doesn't matter any more. The lad will have been told to target him and she should have _known_ that the note was trouble than it initially appeared to be. The red flares over it had made it clear that something about it was playing false, but in such situations there is always something false added to throw the casual reader off. She should have looked at it more closely but her mind had been full of her muscular guard with his delightful cock and how badly she had wanted to play with him some more.

She is the queen of fools, she decides as she stands, kicking him and the chair both over so that she can tug his trousers down on the left side. He squeals when she uses one booted foot to put pressure enough on the side of his head to keep him still, pulling out her little knife. She slices quickly and deftly through skin as the fixer howls, carefully removing the proof that she needs that the Claw have overstepped their boundaries and begun to operate on Court turf.

"Stop your yowling," she tells him, "it's only a little slice." Her eyes slide over. "Not the only disappointing thing about you, I see. I'm sure someone will be along fairly surely to pick you up, hope for a quick death before Varik sends his enforcers for you."

She slips out of the cell quickly, slamming the door shut behind her and rapidly replacing all of her knives. His screams will have drawn attention that she doesn't want or need and she slips quickly towards the stairs, sliding into an empty cell when she hears heavy boots running in her direction and then heading up as soon as they've passed. Her next destination is easy enough to find, if this is all as she suspects then the ones she is looking for will be gathered there to wait and see what she does.

The great hall, since Thorin can't really have a throne room in a place where he isn't truly considered king, is dimly lit and for the first time she sees evidence of the Gift being used as she had been expecting from the moment she approached this building. Mage lights hover about a large table at the far end, three dwarves are gathered there and one of them she recognises on sight even from a distance. Her lip curls. Dwalin has been in on this thing, whatever it is, to a degree. The door is wide open, and they must be expecting her, but their attention is on the table's surface and not the door. It is simply a matter of entering, moving to a corner and using it to scale up into the rafters above. If there is one thing that rebuilding the ruins of Belegost has been good for, it's the abundance of rafters in the halls instead of great stone vaults. More places to hide and sneak. She makes her way carefully from one to the next, pausing when the attention of one or the other seems to turn her way, and continuing when they look back.

"This is a bad idea," Dwalin is saying. "What if she doesn't come?"

"Then you'll have to carry on trying to convince her," a dwarf with white hair says, the similarity in accent can only make him Balin and Nori's eyes narrow.

"No," Dwalin says firmly. "Bad enough you've got me down there trying to find her, now I discover that while I've been gone someone's decided that would be the perfect time to try and kill the lads!"

"Why don't you tell him whose plan it was, Balin?" Nori calls down. "I assume Thorin knew. What was wrong? Your brother taking too long to get the trust of someone who knows when anyone lies?"

" _Thief_ ," Dwalin growls.

"Oh, I think we might be past that little pretence, don't you?" Nori replies, you know my name, you may as well _use_ it."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Nori," Balin says. "Will you not come down?"

"Oh, I'm perfectly comfortable where I am," she snarls, "and given the information I managed to get from the Claw fixer in your cells, I think you'll find that meeting me will be far _less_ pleasurable experience for you than it was for your brother. Now, shall I tell him?"

"That will hardly be necessary, lass," Balin replies. Thorin, Nori is interested to note, remains silent though he watches her closely. "There isn't anything that he doesn't know."

Red flashes around him and Nori is irritated enough that the small knife flashes and pins the sleeve of Balin's red robes to the table before she has thought on it. Thorin reaches for his sword and Dwalin for his axes, though he is slower and more watchful of her.

"Do _not_ lie to me," she hisses. "you should know better, but then, what should I expect from someone who would arrange an assassination attempt on two young lads? Or to organise it so that his own brother would be framed?" Balin stares at her, his face blank but for two spots of colour. Thorin shifts behind him uncomfortably and Dwalin's attention has turned from her to his brother. "I can only assume that since Thorin isn't jumping from his chair and screaming 'traitor' that he was aware of it."

"You did _what_?" Dwalin half roars. "You put those boys in danger because I didn't want to carry on with this farce you'd set up?"

"I doubt any of it was meant to succeed," Nori points out, "I would say that it was only meant to be a test of the Royal Guard, make sure that they're deployed as they're supposed to be, but for the fixer. I'm just not sure how you would have known that I would step in to help him. I only met him a week before the note crossed my path, and avoided being arrested by him a few days before that."

Dwalin groans.

"We didn't," Balin replies. "We assumed that you would take it to your boss, who had already refused the job, and that he would send you to put a stop to it."

"So you grew tired of waiting and decided to try something else," she concludes.

"The captain of my guard has been wandering the lower city for months trying to bring you to us," Thorin tells her. "It was taking too long and I need him here. How close the assassin managed to get before the measures we had put in place to prevent him from succeeding took hold made that very clear."

"So instead you've started a war," she concludes and they all look at her sharply. "You don't know _anything_ about how my world works. My boss wouldn't have sent _me,_ he would have sent half a dozen enforcers if he even deemed it worth his attention at all. Is that what you use those of us with the Sight for then? Your own private little bunch of guards and assassins? No wonder my father was killed in service to your grandfather."

"You should be serving your king," Thorin points out.

"I am," she replies. "He just isn't you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be a fun romp, not whatever it's turned into. Ah well, fun romping times will return.


	8. Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nori storms from the great hall

Nori storms from the great hall, cloak billowing behind her and dark mood seeming to surround her like a shield. This is exactly the sort of mess she should have expected to find. Varik is going to be furious when she explains what has happened. She might just leave out the part where Dwalin was deliberately sent to find her for all the good it will likely do.

"Get out of my way," she says to two guards who stand in the corridor. They meet her challenging glare with one of their own but neither backs away. "I mean it, I'm itching to sink my knives into someone." They exchange nervous glances but she can already hear someone else approaching at speed and she has a feeling she knows who it is.

"Off you go, lads," she hears Dwalin say, feels the heat of him behind her as he pauses, "I'll handle this."

"Yes, Captain," their heels snap together and they race off as though someone has set a fire in their trousers. Give her time and Nori just might.

Dwalin's hand closes around her upper arm. She whirls, knife in hand, to shove him against the wall, blade pressed tightly against his throat. Not quite hard enough to draw blood, but just enough to warn him.

"Don't touch me," she hisses. "Was it your big plan? Fuck the thief with the Sight and bring her in?"

"You know that had nothing to do with it," he replies. She isn't sure whether she's relieved or disappointed that there is no sign of a lie. "Come back and listen to their offer at least," he adds.

"I'd sooner eat dinner with the Corrupter," she spits. "Have you got any idea what your _idiot_ brother has done?"

"Explain it to me," he replies.

"The balance between the Bear's Claw and the Trickster's Court has been fragile since the Court arrived. Belegost is ours because it's the place that Durin's folk put the most work into rebuilding and the Court is made up of Durin's folk, we _came_ from Erebor. Nogrod belongs to the Bear's Claw, the villages in between change, at the moment they're ours, but only so long as our people are there. We keep to our territory, they keep to theirs and aside from the odd fist fight over a village we leave each other be." He nods. "The Claw's Death Dealer pulling a job here isn't a fist fight over a collection of huts. It's a complete and blatant disregard for every agreement we've drawn up. The Trickster King will send a dozen of his enforcers into Nogrod to slaughter as many of the Claw's people as possible. They'll send a load of theirs to target ours in return. It will go backwards and forwards for months, years even, until one of them wins or gets replaced. Buildings will burn and a lot of innocent dwarves are going to get caught in the middle."

"So don't report it," Dwalin suggests, relaxing as she pulls away slightly.

"I _have_ to," she snaps. "He's been having me watched, which means he suspects that something is going on and I'm involved with it. At least if I tell him I have a chance of walking away with my blood still inside me."

"And that's all that matters to you?" He demands. "You're going to let innocent dwarves pay for my brother's mistake because you don't want to risk your life?"

"It's all I _have_!" She cries. "When I joined the Court my brothers and I had _nothing_ thanks to Thror, and I should have paid my way out when Jarl disappeared but I _didn't_ because this is what I _am._ And now your brother has fucked it all up for all of us." She takes a breath and steps back.

"Nori," he says, and she realises that she was right about loving the way her name sounds on his lips. It feels like an age ago, but she knows it was only that morning that she first thought about giving it to him. "You have your brothers."

"Which is why I have to stay," she tells him. "If I run, either Saarn or the Trickster King will have them targeted to draw me out. At least if I stay they'll likely leave them alone. I hope."

"I'll keep an eye on them for you," he promises, and she looks at him suspiciously.

"Why would you do that?" She demands. "If I were you I'd leave and stay away as long as I could."

"My brother is here too, Nori," he replies. "And my king. I won't be leaving, so I'll make sure your brothers stay safe. None of this would have happened if I had taken you in when I first got my hands on you," he growls, "I never believed my brother would do something this _stupid_." She shakes her head with a huff. "You don't have to go back, we can bring your brothers here, we'll keep them safe for you-"

"While I play spy and thief for Thorin?" She finishes. "You know I won't do that." He reaches for her and she shies back, tightening her grip on her knife once more.

"Aye, I know it," he sighs, and she could almost imagine that he looks disappointed. For a moment she is nearly tempted to take him up on the offer, even with all the danger it would represent to the pair of them, if just for the chance at taking the time to figure out what it is that keeps drawing her back to him. "I'll watch your brothers for you. You watch your back." He steps back and she realises that he is letting her leave. Nori nods, not quite knowing whether or not she should be grateful for it, then he takes her hand, pressing a bead into it. "Not what you think, thief," he tells her, "it's a Royal Guard's bead. If you need help, get that to me and I'll come."

"Why?" She asks. "What's in it for you?"

"Just take it, thief," he snaps. "Anyone finds it on you, you can say you stole it." She laughs, though it is not as joyful as it would normally be.

"Aye," she shakes her head, "they'd believe it too." She sobers quickly. "I mean it, though, even though I know you won't, get out while you can."

"Go," he replies, then drags her into a harsh kiss, fingers burying into her hair and making her really wish they had been given the time to explore the things they could do to one another.

Dawn is approaching when she finally breaks away from him and slips out, knowing that if she puts it off any longer there is the possibility that someone will find them with her legs around his waist and his cock filling her. She almost _wants_ that, except that the quicker she gets to Varik the more damage control she might be able to do. There will be no talking the Trickster King out of reprisals. The Claw have over stepped and if he doesn't retaliate they will see it as weakness and do it again. As of this moment the war between thieves guilds is inevitable, it is simply a matter of who declares it first.

She doesn't slink into the guild house as one would expect. She has brought enough trouble on them as it is, she isn't going to behave like the whole mess is entirely her fault. She strides in, head and shoulders back and unconcerned with her dishevelled appearance. Let them believe what they will, she still has the inking from the would-be fixer wrapped in a scrap of cloth in her pocket and that is far more condemning than the fact that she has taken a fancy to a member of the _Royal_ guard instead of the _City_ guard as they had all thought.

"The Bear's Claw have moved in on our territory, Varik," she declares loudly, drawing all the attention to herself as the Trickster King sits upright in the throne like chair he had been lounging in.

"You had better have proof," he snaps. "I won't go accusing Saarn of anything without it." She flings the piece of skin at him.

"Took that off the left ass cheek of a Claw fixer," she says. "He'd been working with one of their death dealers on a job _you_ apparently refused."

"You went to the cells under Thorin's Halls?" Varik almost chokes. "Are you _insane_?"

"I was practically offered a gilded invitation," she replies, handing him the parchment that had caused her to go to Dwalin in the first place.

"You warned the guard," he raises an eyebrow.

"Well _you_ wouldn't have done anything about it," she replies, "and he's got a cock on him like you wouldn't believe." Varik shakes his head with an exasperated huff.

"You're getting soft," he snaps.

"Happens to the best of us," she shrugs. "Point is, what are _you_ going to do about it? If they'd succeeded in killing their targets Thorin would have wiped us all out. Actually, he's sent a message to warn you that if they make another go of it he'll lead the Royal _and_ City guards down here to kill the lot of us."

The others still present begin to mutter. This is the tipping point. Varik has to decide whether to announce that he is taking measures against the Claw to warn them against operating in Tricketer territory, or he will have to step aside and they will all need to hope that in the subsequent power struggle for leadership the Claw don't move in. If she could have, she would have approached Varik alone in the hopes that they could work something else out. Unlike his predecessors, however, Varik is _never_ alone. He probably thinks that will keep him safe if someone decides to end his reign for him, Nori knows as well as any of the others that it won't.

"Very well," he growls. "Send Erland and Brinjar to me. It looks like I have a job for them."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is how I relax. I promise we'll get back to some regularly scheduled Dwalin and Nori sex at some point in the future. It's sort of central to the plot. The chapter is also way shorter than I wanted. But the next one is shaping up to be a lot longer as a result. We'll also see our first time jump at the beginning of the next one.


	9. Five Months Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nori shoves a stray lock of hair from her eyes

Nori shoves a stray lock of hair from her eyes, heedless of the blood that coats her hands, normally impeccable peaks falling in about her in a dishevelled mess as she idly notes that the blood has stained the cuffs of her shirt this time. This has become an all too familiar dance since she told Varik about the Bear's Claw moving in on their territory. Naturally, she hadn't told him about the fact that it had been Balin to approach them, and with what had seemed like Thorin's approval, but not out of any sort of loyalty to Balin or Thorin. It wouldn't bother her a bit if Varik had put a hit on the pair of them for causing all this trouble. She kept her mouth shut for Dwalin, and not because she cares about him or anything like that. She kept her mouth shut because he would _know_ she had been the one to set Varik on Balin and he would very likely kill her for it. Even with all of her current problems, she still quite likes living. So Nori had kept her mouth mostly shut and Varik had sent his two best death dealers to deliver a message to Saarn in the form of the murder of four of his closest lieutenants.

With the previous leader of the Claw that might have been the end of it. Hakon had been shrewd, one of the few to pass of old age and name a successor, and he would have seen the wisdom in heeding the warning. Saarn has only been in charge for a little over five years, he is still establishing himself and Nori knows that he will not allow himself to appear weak. He very likely hasn't even told anyone about Varik's reason for targeting the Claw in the first place. All Nori knows is that the fixer was found dead in his cell three days after she had met with him. That's all she needs to know to confirm her suspicions; Varik has someone inside Thorin's Halls. She would worry about that, because sooner or later whoever it is that Varik has spying on the displaced royal family will stumble upon the involvement of Balin in creating this situation and Varik _will_ order that something be done about it, but she has bigger problems at the moment. This is the fourth time one of Saarn's people have tried to kill her. The first time had been the closest call. She had lost an incredibly disappointing fuck and her room in the tavern due to that one. Not to mention the fresh new scar that runs up her left arm. Bofur's sister may be a midwife, but she has plenty of experience in patching up the various thieves and cutthroats that make up the underbelly of Belegost. Beryl is the only reason that Nori knows Bofur in the first place. Still, she needs a safe place to stay tonight, this run down old house isn't going to cut it anymore, and it is tempting to try Beryl's place and yet she already knows she won't. No matter how awful this hovel now is. Aside from the body of the dwarf who attempted to kill her, it is now abundantly clear that Saarn's people have found her. Again. Time to move on and disappear. Possibly even time to leave Belegost for a while. If only she could be sure that Dori and Ori will be safe.

A noise startles her and she spins, throwing knife in hand, only to find Dwalin approaching. She tenses. Just because she hasn't heard of a hit being placed on his brother doesn't mean it hasn't happened. Varik doesn't trust her like he used to. She doesn't blame him. Dwalin spreads his hands as he approaches, unarmed she thinks almost hysterically, then she sees his eyes widen minutely, would miss it if she hadn't been looking for it, and she spins to sink her little blade into the eye of a dwarf approaching from behind. The death dealer curses, her blade not long enough to reach his brain, and she dodges back to reach for another knife. She doesn't need to. Dwalin is next to her with a roar and one of his fantastic axes. Nori can see herself becoming very fond of those axes, but then she's always had a bit of a fondness for sharp things.

"Is any of that yours?" Dwalin demands, setting his axe to one side and grabbing her hands to look them over. She's shaking, she notes absently, she's never shaken like this before. "Nori, are you hurt?"

"No," she snaps, appalled by her own apparent weakness. She tries to step away from him but one of her legs buckles and she curses as he catches her. "I'm _fine_ , guard," she spits. "What the _fuck_ are you doing here anyway?"

"Looking for you," he replies, ignoring her glare and slinging one of her arms around his shoulder so that he can help her over to a nearby wall. "No one has heard anything from you since this mess started and then word reached us that the tavern you lived above was burned to the ground last night." She shudders, she had been there trying to help put out the flames and she remembers the screams of the dwarves trapped inside. "Your brothers are frantic, it's all that Dis and her husbands can do to keep them there."

"What about your brother and Thorin?" She asks as Dwalin drags the second death dealer's corpse into the hovel. "Are they keeping well out of it, then?"

"No," Dwalin sighs, "the council has demanded that he go to Nogrod to meet with the council there so that they can discuss what to do about all of this. Popular opinion is that both cities need to gather their guard and wipe out as many of you as they can. Too many innocent dwarves have been killed on the sidelines."

"When?" She demands. Dwalin shrugs.

"No idea," he replies, "they haven't been to Nogrod to discuss it yet."

"And you wouldn't tell me even if you did know," she adds.

"You've kept your mouth shut about my brother," he mutters, "and I'm grateful for it. I _owe_ you for it, but Thorin would have my hide if I warned you and you told the rest of them."

"I'm not interested in being part of a slaughter, Dwalin!" She snarls.

"I'm not asking you to be," he shouts. "I'm not overly keen on the idea myself. The thought of killing our own people makes me sick, the dragon and orcs have taken enough of them as it is. We don't need _this_ on top of it all!"

"There's nothing _I_ can do!" She struggles to her feet. "Don't you think that if I _could_ stop this, I would?"

"I know," he huffs. "I know you would." He glances around them, the street is empty at the moment, this part of town mostly abandoned, but it is only a matter of time before someone comes along and no matter the reason they are both covered in blood with two bodies too close to be explained away. Nori needs to leave, but finds herself strangely reluctant to do so. "Come on, thief, lets get you some place safe for the night. I'll take you to your brothers in the morning."

"There's no where safe, Dwalin," she sighs. "Not even Thorin's Halls."

"If you want to wander the streets covered in blood be my guest," he shrugs. "But I know a place that you can get a hot bath and clean clothes. A decent meal too. You're skin and bones, thief."

She's too exhausted to argue with him any further. She moves around every few days, has known that there was a price on her head and someone looking for her for weeks, but tonight shows that her exhaustion has caught up with her. She follows him, though she refuses to take the hand that he offers and refuses to walk beside him, slipping along behind him as though trailing a mark in the vain hope that if anyone were to take notice they would only think that she had decided to target a guard. It is too dangerous to be obviously friendly with her now, the owner of the tavern she once lived at has shown her that.

Dwalin leads her into the oldest part of the city, the part that still sits beneath the mountains far from the new mines. The rock here is treacherous, there is a reason that they have avoided rebuilding this part, and Nori shies away from the parts that jangle against the deep stone sense that all dwarves possess. Dwalin's must be more refined than she had thought, she watches him slip around sections of bad stone with ease and she avoids the same spots. There is no sign of life here, no sign that other dwarves ever come this way, the buildings around them little more than half shattered ruins without roofs or windows. Doors gape like screaming mouths, windows like sightless eyes, there is no sign of life and only the oppressive weight of death, ancient and merciless. Dwalin either doesn't notice or isn't bothered by it, not even commenting when she slips her hand into his and offers a silent prayer to Mahal. Finally, when she thinks she might break his hand with how tightly she has gripped it, they round a corner and she sees a large house. It was likely once the home of a noble, it even has a fountain in the courtyard in front of it. The door is sturdy wood with iron studs at regular intervals and there is a small hatch above the knocker so that the owner can look out of it. The windows are shuttered tightly, but she can see smoke curling from the chimney.

"Who lives here?" She demands.

"No one," Dwalin tells her, gripping her hand a little more tightly when she tries to pull away from him. "I lit the boiler before I came looking for you so that we could have hot water and left a pot of stew on the stove. Trust me."

"I don't trust anyone," she snaps. He gives her a long look. "Fine," she huffs .

He unlocks the door with a heavy iron key, one that he hands to her in silence, allowing her to choose whether she locks them in or not. Nori locks the door, she tries not to trust people, it only comes back to bite her in the long run, but Dwalin is the decent sort and he has never lied to her about anything of significance. Inside, the house is significantly smaller that it would appear to be from the outside. This is not a quirk of the building, she can see the marks on the wall which once held the supports for a staircase, just a few rooms have been restored. Enough to provide a couple of bedrooms, a kitchen and dining space and a spacious bathroom. The bathroom, at least, has to have been part of the original house because it still has all of the plumbing to allow her to run a scalding bath. The tub would probably fit a half dozen dwarves in comfortably and Nori wastes no time in removing her clothes so that she can climb in.

"Come on, guard," she says, removing clips from her already ruined hair. "You need to get clean too."

She doesn't hide the fact that she's watching him as he pulls off his leather armour and clothes. Doesn't bother being coy about the fact that she runs her eyes down his torso appreciatively as he reveals the heavy muscles and thick hair that has been hidden from her gaze until now. He's covered in scars, Nori has more than her share but Dwalin puts her to shame, and she drinks them in as she follows them down until she finds his cock, already hardening. She smiles, licking her lips and contemplating how long she can hold her breath for. It's been a while since she had a good fuck and she hadn't realised how much she had missed it, too busy trying to find somewhere else to live and planning different ways to end this whole mess with Varik. She moves towards the guard as he joins her in the water, using his beard to pull him close enough for a messy kiss that is all the clash of teeth and the grasp of desperate hands.

"Lets get you clean first, lass," Dwalin says, pushing her back just enough so that he can grab the soap. She whines, pressing forward again. "If I'm going to fuck you, I'll be doing it without some other bastard's blood all over you."

He turns her, pulling her back against his front and she can feel his interest pressed against her lower back. It's tempting to bend forward, to push her luck, but then his hands are on her torso, soap covered as he runs them down from her shoulders. His fingers skim down, his hands covering her breasts and squeezing firmly, before sliding over to toy with her nipples, light flicks turning into firm touches, then pinching and rolling them until shes groaning against him with her head on his shoulder. There is nothing hurried about this, none of the heat and speed of their previous encounters. He pinches and tweaks and twists until he is satisfied, then his hands vanish for a moment, only to come back covered in a fresh lather of soap and continue their journey down. Stood as they are, the bath only just comes up to the swell of her hips, even though it could have been run deeper she had been too impatient to wait for the tub to fill completely, and she is glad of that when one soap slick finger slides through the hot water, parting her folds and toying lightly with her pearl.

"I have been itching to taste you," he says as he rubs light circles over the sensitive nub, "and I will later, make no mistake." His teeth graze her shoulder and she whines, needing more. "Not yet," he whispers. "Not yet."

His fingers dip inside her, wide, rough, and she's close, so close, to falling apart around him. The angle is awkward but his hand twists, pumping three fingers inside her as his other hand comes around to pinch her pearl and she gasps. One arm winds around behind his neck, anchoring her in place as he increases his speed and pressure, making pleasure build in her in a way that other lovers have never quite managed to achieve so quickly. He breathes her name, the word a rolling caress, and she shatters in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is another one that was going to be longer, it ended up needing to be cut. In other news, all the many storms of the last couple of weeks has revealed another leak in my house. I am not at all happy with this development.


	10. Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bath water is going cold around them,

The bath water is going cold around them, but neither Nori nor Dwalin notice, too lost in one another to care. The thief rides her guard hard, auburn hair falling in water darkened waves down her back as she holds his shoulders and chases another orgasm. Her eyes are closed and she relishes the feel of him, the stretch of his cock, the callouses on his rough hands where one holds her hip and the other seeks between her legs and rubs at her pearl almost relentlessly. The ledge that serves as a bench in the bath isn't quite rough enough to gain proper purchase but this time when Dwalin tips her over the edge he follows with a gasp. They slump together, now able to feel the chill of the water against heated skin. Nori is perfectly comfortable where she is, however, in the strong arms of her guard. She shouldn't feel safe with him. She shouldn't trust him, but she does.

"Clean up," Dwalin rasps when it looks like they may doze off like this. "You need to eat, thief, and so do I."

She grumbles and he lifts her as though she doesn't weigh anything at all, moving her to the side so that he can look for the abandoned washcloth and soap. He scrubs himself first, hand moving in quick and efficient circles, then gestures that it is her turn. She shifts on the bench, leaning back and spreading her legs with lazy smirk. She just wants to see what he will do, how he will react, is surprised when he licks his lips and his cock seems to stir in interest. He almost prowls towards her, as much as anyone can when up to their ass in water, and uses the cloth to almost teasingly clean her.

"You'll not catch me _that_ easily, Nori," he purrs, "we eat first. I'll enjoy you after."

He saunters away, drying briskly using one of the towels he had left out for them and she follows, pouting. The towel is cool when she grabs it, scrubbing herself dry quickly and twisting her hair up into it as she uses another to squeeze the water out of her beard. There are clothes there, plain trousers and tunics in the styles she prefers and she knows that Dori will have had a hand in them. She doesn't feel like getting dressed again. Actually, now that she has emerged from the water and Dwalin has dressed and gone into the kitchen, she can feel exhaustion tugging deeply at her and hunger gnawing in her belly. She eyes the clothes with distaste and then glances around until her eyes fall upon a rich, thick robe. She tugs it on, the large shoulders and long sleeves making it abundantly clear that this is _not_ something that Dori sent over for _her_ to use. It is warm, however, and thick and rich with a faint scent that she has come to associate with Dwalin. She wraps it tightly around her, more out of a wish for comfort than warmth or modesty, and trails into the kitchen. Dwalin is stood with his back to the door, trousers low on his hips and tunic nowhere to be seen. He's comfortable here, she realises, though she cannot imagine him having a home so far from Thorin and so deep in the unstable part of the mountain.

"Whose place is this?" She asks, leaning in the door so that she can watch him as he serves up their dinner, reaching for bread that has been stored on a high shelf.

"Mine," he answers, not turning, "never bothered doing much of anything to it until this fight between the Claw and the Trickster's kicked off though. Always intended on turning it into a safe house for the lads in case anything happened to their parents." He turns then, bowls of steaming stew in hand and scowls. " _That_ is also _mine_ ," he rumbles with a nod towards the robe.

"Not anymore," she purrs, running a finger along the opening and enjoying the soft fabric. Years of helping Dori while he tried to convince her to walk a legal path as given her a taste for the finer things. "I like it, so it's mine now." He huffs.

"I see the more subtle aspects of property ownership are lost on you," he observes, setting their food on the table.

"Not at all," she grins. "What's mine is mine. What's _yours_ is also _mine_ if I decide I want it," she runs her eyes over him again, taking in scars and inkings with equal relish.

"Is that so?" He arches an eyebrow. "Is there anything _else_ I might want to look at moving to a safe location?" His words are teasing.

"I don't know," she breathes, walking past the table to stand in front of him. "I've never stolen a whole guard before, the challenge would be worth the inconvenience of tracking him down I think."

"Is it the guard you want?" He replies. "Or just his cock."

"Oh," she palms the front of his trousers, her face set in a thoughtful expression, "this is completely worthless without the rest of him."

"I will bend you over this table and fuck you until you can't stand up, thief," he hisses through gritted teeth, "but _not_ until we _eat_." She doesn't argue with him, taking a chair next to his and turning it so that she can drape her legs over his while they eat. "Were you raised by orcs?" He asks in exasperation as she quickly spoons stew into her mouth. It is hot and filling, a little low on flavour aside from salt but not everyone has been spoiled by the flavours that Bombur produces with very little apparent effort.

"I'll tell Dori you said that," she grins and he rolls his eyes.

"I'm not entirely sure he would disagree with me," Dwalin huffs, but a large hand finds her leg and his fingers trace idle circles on her thigh as they eat, drifting further up until Nori is struggling not to shift down in her seat or jump up and take him there and then. His finger flicks over her pearl, traces through her folds and dips into her cunt. He grins at her and pulls his hand back, bringing it to his mouth so that he can taste her and she makes an indecent sound as he groans at the taste of her. "Hurry up and eat, thief," he hisses and she obeys.

Nori has barely finished her last mouthful of meat when Dwalin stands abruptly, knocking her legs from his lap and almost snatching the bowl from her hand. He places the dishes next to the sink then stalks towards her, grabbing her from her chair and lifting her onto the table as he gives her a punishing kiss. Nori is suddenly very glad that she opted not to get dressed when his hands drag the robe's tie loose and push it back, baring her to his heated gaze when he drags his lips away from hers. The robe is conveniently easy to remove, she could see the well made clothes Dori provided for her being utterly destroyed. That said, if she had dressed properly she doubts she would be in such a delightful position now. Dwalin's teeth find one nipple, grazing lightly over the sensitive nub and she arches into him, desperately reaching for his trousers and frustrated when he bats her hands away.

"I said I was going to taste you," he growls. "Keep your hands to yourself."

He pushes her onto her back, falling to his knees and draping her legs over his shoulders. For a moment he waits and she takes a moment to consider pushing him away. It's rare that Nori will allow a lover to do this for her, it feels somehow too intimate for a casual fuck, but she is coming to admit that there is something about Dwalin that draws her to him and it doesn't feel so out of place with him. Then he drags his tongue through her folds, bringing it up to swirl around her pearl and she arches into him, all thought of stopping him forgotten as his licks and sucks and even nibbles lightly. Soon enough he slides a finger inside her, not very far, crooking it slightly and stroking and she screams as that light touch tips her suddenly over the edge.

Nori likes it rough, soft and gentle has never gotten her all that far, but somehow Dwalin has found something that works as he eases her through it, his touch firm and tender. He waits and she thinks that he will ease her down entirely, but then his tongue moves that little bit harder, burrowing into her as his thumb takes its place on her pearl, thrusting lightly with the thick muscle and she's still so sensitive from her last orgasm that it takes even _less_ this time to bring her into another one. She is still shuddering when he gets to his feet, easing her legs around his hips and bending to kiss her. His beard is soaked with her juices and she relishes it, licking her way into his mouth so that she can taste herself on his tongue. He tangles a hand into her hair, pulling her head back roughly so that he can lick at the column of her neck. Dimly she notes the head of his cock pressed against her entrance, too lost in the sensation of his lips on her skin and the burn of his hand in her hair to care that at some point he has discarded his trousers.

She's ready for him, more than ready, and he knows it. Rearing back so that he can watch her face as he pushes inside hard and fast. He doesn't pause to give her time to adjust, at this point she hardly needs it because it hasn't even been an hour since their last round and he was gentle enough with her then until she took matters into her own hands. His pace is brutal, punishing, and she has no trouble believing that he will keep his promise to leave her unable to walk. The table jars and skitters beneath them, all she can do is hold on because this is exactly what she has been missing over the last few months, this is precisely what the other dissatisfying fucks have lacked. They either treat her like they might break her, don't care whether she peaks or don't have the stamina to give her exactly what she needs.

Dwalin, however, seems to sense that she is close to the edge, because he grins at her, a tight and feral thing that make excitement jolt in her, and then he slows. He eases back and the rapid change flings her so far away from her peak that she wants to scream and writhe to find what she wants, what she _needs_ , and he pins her in place, uses his bulk and his strength against her. Instinct shrieks at her, she wouldn't normally allow this, but the helpless feeling that comes with it, the sense that she is there for him and only him as his pace picks up and his cock hits that perfect angle leaves her too busy chasing the high that she knows has to come for her to care. She screams when he finally stops teasing, when he finally allows her to peak and wave after wave of pleasure races through her. They are alone here, there is no need for him to muffle the noise that she makes and the sound of her pleasure seems to tip him over as well, sparking another, smaller, orgasm as he spills inside her.

He collapses on her and the table creaks then settles. Even without Dwalin above her, Nori doesn't think she could move. Her entire body tingles, none of her limbs want to obey her, her mind refuses to process a single thought beyond the desire to sleep. Eventually, Dwalin pulls away with a groan, looking down at her with something that she can't read, then he lifts her and stumbles from the kitchen.

"Let's get you to bed, thief," he whispers and she doesn't think she's heard a better idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently I can't write sweet and tender smut for Billana but I can write Nori. She's a loud lass, our thief. Good job I adore her. Sorry for anything weird, I may have over indulged in the mead this evening, it tends to affect my ability to type, and the ability of the things I type to not be smut.....


	11. In the Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nori wakes slowly

Nori wakes slowly, a luxury she hasn't had in a long time, with the feel of Dwalin's bulk pressed against her back and his lips on her neck. Her head is still resting on one of his arms and he has bent it so that it snakes around her and allows him to cup her breast in one large hand. His other arm rests over her hips, his hand between her legs as he toys with her and teases sparks of pleasure under her skin. She arches against him, moaning his name in a way that makes him graze his teeth over the normally hidden skin of her neck. His free arms shifts, lifting her leg and pulling it back. The angle is awkward but he manages to enter her all the same, drawing a gasp from her at the burn that follows as a reminder of just _how_ many times he has taken her in however many hours have passed since she came here. She should push him away but she won't. She relishes it. It has been a very long time since she felt this well fucked and it will likely be longer still until she does again. His thrusts are short and sharp due to the angle, but it's just right as he hooks her leg over his arm and twists the other to pull her chest against him in a way that makes her breath come in short gasps. Dwalin has all the control here, far more than she would usually allow any other lover, and she adores it.

Nori inherited nearly a full measure of her mother's strength, much as both of her brothers have, and it takes a truly powerful dwarf to overpower her. Usually she has to hold back, at least a little bit, but like this there is no purchase, nothing for her to use to give her the grip that she would need to throw him off. It's exciting in a way she has never really experienced before, in a way that she has never trusted any of her prior partners with, and her orgasm, when it comes, is a gentle wave that builds and crests and rushes over her with a comforting warmth that makes her feel like she is falling. It isn't enough for Dwalin, though he doesn't stop moving even as she gasps against him. Eventually, though whether it is out of his own drive or a desire to give her what she usually wants Nori doesn't know, Dwalin rolls her onto her front, lifting her hips and barely giving her time to get her knees under her and brace herself before he is driving into her. The burn is still there, a stark and strange counterpart to the sheer pleasure of his cock filling her over and over and the swift flicker of her fingers over her pearl.

This time she does scream as she peaks, white flashing behind her eyes and blinding her to everything except the rolling waves of pleasure and the sudden stillness of Dwalin as he spills into her. They both slump, Nori's legs no longer willing to support her as Dwalin tips to one side and rolls onto his back breathing heavily. She lies next to him, as desperate to catch her own breath as he is his, sweat cools on her skin and she knows that she will need to bathe again before Dwalin takes her to see Dori and Ori. Her younger brother would never comment on the smell of sex or the scent of Dwalin lingering about her skin, clothes and hair, but Dori will. Dori still seems to cling to the belief that as customary as it is for young dwarves to indulge in casual relationships before they fall in love, his sister is still an innocent young 'dam. The last thing she needs is Dori poking too deeply into her sex life, in fact she suspects that Dwalin hasn't breathed a word of their encounters to anyone in Thorin's Halls either. Nori had, of course, bragged about managing to get her hands on the massive guard with the tattoos and torn ear to other Tricksters. She isn't the only one in the Court who likes her partners large and intimidating and she certainly isn't the only one with a taste for the guards, but Dwalin had been one she had declared off limits to the others until she's done with him. She had thought she would be done with him fairly quickly, but he's managed not to become boring after only a couple of fucks and she intends to keep him to herself until he does. Dori doesn't need to know any of this, the same as Dori doesn't need to know that the first thing she saved enough coin to buy was a truly superior contraceptive charm. Nori has no intention of becoming a mother any time soon, and when she does she will be selecting the father _very_ carefully.

She rolls out of bed with that thought, she's never been on for cuddling after sex, and makes her way to the bathroom with the kind of rolling gait that is going to be difficult to disguise and uncomfortable to hide. She will need to go and see Beryl after she has seen her brothers and buy a herb soak. This isn't the first time that Nori has overdone it with one of her lovers and it certainly won't be the last. Nor is it the worst she's ever felt after, in fact her mood is still soaring and she rolls her shoulders happily as she steps into the still filling tub. The cloth and soap are easy to find and she scrubs herself quickly before bending and ducking her head into the water to wet her hair. Her hair and beard are snarled horribly, they always get that way when she goes to sleep without braiding them, and they are going to be beastly to sort out on her own. She entertains the momentary thought that she could ask Dwalin for help, but while she cares very little about most of the social conventions of her people, _that_ is one barrier that she absolutely refuses to break. Even Nori only allows her family to help her care for her hair.

Dwalin joins her not long after as she perches on the bench at the side of the bath with a comb and a little hair oil that she works carefully through the snarls. She'll have to wait until it all dries in order to style it properly, but that's probably a good thing given there is still the spy to look out for. Even Varik's people look for her usual peaks before they realise that the 'dam with her hair tied back is the one that they are looking for. Dwalin watches her silently and there is something oddly comfortable about it that she refuses to place or think about. She just needs to see her brothers and then go back to trying to survive this mess that Dwalin's brother and king have managed to create.

"You could stay," Dwalin offers, "no one knows about this place except me, Balin and Thorin. You'd be safe."

"I'd be bored," she corrects. "Which isn't the same as safe." She scowls at a particularly stubborn snag. "There's three ways of getting out of the Court," she sighs when she sees him open his mouth to object. "Death, actually getting old enough to go stone-brained or waiting until the current King is removed and buying your way out." She sees him scowl. "Obviously, I have no interest in the first two and the last one won't be happening any time soon unless one of the others decides that this whole mess has gone on long enough and takes out the current King. Even then, once you're out it's a very good idea to move a very long way away. Just because you;re out, doesn't mean that all the things the guard wants you for goes away. It just means that the enforcers won't get you out of the cells anymore."

"Thorin wouldn't let you go to the cells," Dwalin insists.

"No," she muses, "I suppose he wouldn't, but does that mean you're going to kill the Trickster King for me?"

"Of course not," he grumbles, "but until it happens you'd be safe enough with us, in Thorin's Halls."

"There's one of the Trickster King's spies in those Halls," she replies, setting the comb aside and braiding her eyebrows over her forehead before pulling the rest of her hair into a thick braid. She does the same with her beard, watching as her words sink in.

"Everyone who works in there is completely loyal," Dwalin insists.

"If you believe _that_ you've already gone stone-brained," she laughs bitterly. "Everyone has their price, guard, everyone has their limit."

"And what's yours, thief?" He demands.

"The same as any thief," she shrugs, "I'm loyal as long as it suits me to be."

"You don't trust anyone?" He asks, sounding almost sad.

"Not as a rule," she replies and his face falls. "But I trust _you_ , which frankly baffling," she says as she climbs out of the tub and begins to dry herself. "It's also why I know I can ask what I'm about to of you and know that you won't abuse it."

"Go on," he replies warily.

"I need you to take me in wearing chains," he makes a noise of protest. " _Listen_ ," she hisses. "The Trickster King is sure I know more about how this started than I'm telling him. If I'm seen going into those Halls willingly he'll be certain of it and it won't just be the Claw's death dealers that I end up having to avoid. You've seen how well _that's_ going for me. I _know_ him, if I'm seen entering in chains he'll assume that no matter what I know I'm keeping quiet to protect Dori and Ori. We may not have much loyalty to one another, but we're loyal to the Court and the Court protects our families in return. That you've got my brothers will reflect badly on him and means I can keep my mouth shut about your brother without having to dance around things."

"Surely he'll assume that anyway?" Dwalin reasons. "If, as you say, this spy sees you with your brothers."

"If I go willingly it means I _asked_ you to watch over them and you won't touch them if I tell the Trickster King everything," she shrugs. "It's up to you, it'll come out eventually, it just depends on whether the spy tells him or I do."

"What happens when it comes out?" He growls.

"I don't know," she admits, "nothing good. Your best bet is to hope all of this blows over before the spy finds out." There is a moment of silence and he nods.

When they leave the hidden house he leads her along a different route, this one less treacherous but still riddled with spots where they have to take care. Nori has pulled her old coat on over the fresh clothes and it is as coated in blood as it had been the night before, roughly patched after close encounters with knives and swords without the means or safety to fix it well. Nori is good with a needle and thread, very good given Dori's desperate attempts to keep her from immersing herself in the seedy world of the Court, but she knows the value of keeping something looking a little more tattered than it really is. The state of her coat is as much of a disguise as much of the rest of her style. Dwalin places the heavy cuffs on her when they get close enough to the upper city that they will likely be spotted by those who know her. Nori spits and curses at him, exploring the extent of her rather colourful vocabulary having apologised to him in advance for some of the things she is going to say. One of Varik's enforcers sees her and scuttles off none too subtly so she knows that Varik will be aware she's destined for Thorin's Halls sooner than she would like. Dwalin is rough enough with her to be convincing and her uneven gait is enough to convince any other witnesses that he probably had quite the fight on his hands to bring her in as it is.

Finally, after too long in cuffs she would rather remove, Dwalin leads her down a corridor and into a room which is beautifully furnished. Ori is talking quietly to Balin, Dori is measuring a tall, slender dwarf with blond hair and dark eyes with a length of knotted rope. It's the one by the fire who catches her eye fully, taller still than the one with Dori and with the same colouring. This one, however, is broader than Dwalin and he definitely gives the guard a run for his money when it comes to being the most delectable specimen of dwarfhood that Nori has laid her eyes on.

" _Why_ is my sister in chains?" Dori demands and Nori reluctantly drags her eyes away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These two actually just wanted to play house. Nori would have been bored in a couple of days and I have a story to move forwards. Lucky me. And oh look, guess who Nori gets to meet properly next chapter.


	12. A Quiet Afternoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Why is my sister in chains?" Dori demands.

" _Why_ is my sister in chains?" Dori demands.

Nori tears her eyes away from the utterly exquisite specimen of dwarfhood in front of her to glance at her still chained hands. Then she grins at Dwalin and raises them.

"Do you mind?" She asks sweetly.

"Are telling me that you can't get yourself out of them, thief?" Dwalin smirks.

"Is that a challenge, guard?" She laughs, ignoring the outraged expression on Dori's face and the curious expressions of the two blonds. Her fingers are already seeking the lock pick she keeps in the cuff of her sleeves, already pulling the slender steel out. "I didn't want to embarrass you in front of your friends."

"You surprise me," he chuckles, "I should imagine I'll be the talk of Belegost for days with the shit you were spewing on the way here."

"It had to be convincing," comes her reply, busy fingers making short work of the simple lock, "but now you mention it-" she holds the cuffs out on one finger. "If you don't want me escaping you might want to invest in something a little bit more _robust_."

"I'll keep it in mind for future," he nods, "we wouldn't want you escaping before I'm done with you." He adds in a suggestive tone that makes her squirm internally

"How do you feel about inviting a couple of friends?" She fires back, eyes once again drifting to the delicious blond.

"I'm open to it," he shrugs, "but not him." She looks at him, startled that he has read her so easily. "You think I haven't figured out your type by now, thief? Dis would skin the pair of us for even suggesting it."

"Pity," she mutters, "but no great loss I suppose." Nori stretches, working out the kinks from keeping her hands awkwardly in front of her for so long. "If you've worked out my type I'm sure you know of a couple of lads willing to play with us." Dwalin shakes his head in exasperation.

"Really, Nori?" Dori huffs. "You can't keep your mind on anything else?"

"Plenty," she grins, "but I _multitask,_ Dori, it's more fun that way."

"I apologise," Dori says to the slender blond who is watching them with amusement.

"Oh, don't," he laughs, "this is the most entertainment I've had in days. This is your thief then, Dwalin?" He bows awkwardly from his stool, while Dori clucks around him with his measuring rope and two high points of colour on his cheeks. "Suli, son of Arli," he adds, thus identifying both himself and his brother by the fire. Suli and Morvanli are known due to the fact that they are married to Dis and fathers to Thorin's heir.

"She's _the_ thief," Dwalin corrects, "doubt she belongs to anyone." He shrugs but Nori thinks she sees a faint flicker of red about him, he _does_ think she belongs to someone and that makes annoyance flash through her.

"I don't like liars, guard," she hisses in reminder.

"And this isn't a discussion for _now_ ," he replies calmly. She pauses mid retort. He's right, annoyingly, and so she turns her attention onto Dori.

"Is there a reason you wanted to see me?" She asks him. Dori glares at her.

"Is it so terrible to want to make sure that you're _alive_?" He snaps back. "And I thought Thorin said she's free to come and go as she pleases, why drag her here in chains." The question is directed at Dwalin but Nori is the one who answers.

"Because it didn't _please_ me to come!" She argues. "It's dangerous out there for me right now, being seen here won't help, so stop _trying_ to get me killed, Dori."

"You were nearly killed last night without any input from your brother at all, thief," Dwalin points out and Dori looks at her in horror, finally noticing the blood stains on her coat and the new repairs.

"Thank you _so much_ for that," she mumbles as Dori's embarrassment seems to evaporate and he rushes to her so that he can start looking her over. "I had it under control." Dwalin raises a dubious eyebrow but doesn't comment. "This isn't necessary, Dori!" She yelps when he pokes a bruise, and not one of the fun ones.

"You may as well stay, Suli," Dwalin comments when the slender blond hops down. Morvanli, Nori notes as she dodges Dori's searching fingers, is watching the whole thing with unconcealed amusement. The young princes are known mischief makers and she's starting to suspect that they come by it from their fathers. She has a hard time imagining anyone related to Thorin being prone to pranks and tricks.

"We understand we have you to thank for alerting Dwalin to the plot to kill our boys," Morvanli says and she glances quickly at Balin. The older dwarf has paled behind his white beard. "Thorin will never admit that we are in your debt for it, but it should be said all the same."

"If it's all the same to you, I would rather we forget the whole thing," she says, "the idiot who organised it has sparked the chaos in the lower town. It isn't going to end well for whoever it was. My involvement has caused me enough problems, I refuse to be tied more closely to it."

"Nevertheless, should you have need," Suli insists, standing next to his brother.

"You would only paint targets on yourselves," she shakes her head. "It's one of the reasons I was relieved when Dwalin offered to bring my brothers here. They're targets because they're my family. Which is another reason for me to avoid visiting as much as possible," she says pointedly to Dori. "I don't want the Claw finding out where you are and sneaking someone in to get you."

"It wouldn't happen," Balin insists and she sneers at him.

"They almost managed it once, they will have learnt from that," she points out. "You've seen me, Dori," she sighs. "I can't stay too long or my king will have his enforcers storming the place to grab the three of us." Ori approaches and wraps his arms around her.

"Stay for a little while?" He requests gently, and Nori relents. She doesn't have the heart to refuse him.

"Just a little while," she agrees.

A little while ends up being half of the day, much to her irritation. Dori decides that he needs to make certain that she gets a couple of decent meals and even though it had been Ori who requested she stay that little bit longer, Nori spends much of her time talking to Suli and Morvanli. She quickly realises that even if Dwalin has made no mention to Thorin and Balin of the true nature of their acquaintance, he has spoken of it to the husbands of Lady Dis. More than once if some of the veiled jibes are anything to go by. Dwalin flushes more frequently than she would have thought possible, his friends obviously sharing more than he would like them to.

"So tell me how you both met Lady Dis," she says, taking pity on Dwalin as he looks more and more uncomfortable with the attention her laughter is drawing from Balin.

"As you know, I'm a jeweller," Suli grins and Dwalin groans. "Dwalin and Dis came into my workshop looking for some particular pieces that I specialise in."

"What sort of pieces?" She asks. "On the off chance that I might have pinched one or two at some point." Morvanli cackles.

"You'd have to get very personal with your target, lass," he laughs. "My brother specialises in the little jewelled clips and clamps for intimate areas."

"Some prefer the occasional pressure of a clamp to the permanence of a piercing," Suli elaborates. "Dwalin and Dis were entertaining one another fairly regularly at that point."

"Not after they came into the shop they weren't," Morvanli adds. "Took one look at Suli and decided that pretty was more her thing."

"It was never anything serious," Dwalin shrugs, "though she could have told me before I'd bought that diamond clamp."

"Do you still have it?" Nori asks. "Or did she get it off you anyway?"

"Wouldn't _you_ like to know?" He smirks. "That's one thing of mine I _won't_ be letting you make off with."

"Every lass likes a diamond," Suli grins. "I'll even give you a special price," he tells her.

"It'll be a special price alright," Dwalin mutters. "You won't get a thing for it."

"Now that's not completely true," Nori disagrees, "there are plenty of things I _will_ pay for. The right piece of shine might be one of them. I prefer emeralds though."

"Never easy are you?" Her guard teases.

"It depends on what I'm being offered I suppose," she shrugs, her eyes lingering suggestively on his crotch. "I'm very easy in the right situations."

" _Thief_ ," he growls in warning when she bites her lower lip and smiles.

She's beginning to like the way that sounds on his lips. In fact, she is beginning to like altogether too much about Dwalin. It was one thing to enjoy a good fuck, to give each other mutual satisfaction and then part ways until the next time. She didn't know him then and hardly cared to. The more times they have met, however, the more she has learnt of him. The more she learns, the more she likes. He's an honourable dwarf, nothing like the scoundrels that she usually ends up bedding, and unless she indicates otherwise he is gentle with her in a way that she wouldn't normally tolerate. He has a sense of humour too, and she is beginning to wish that she hadn't learnt any of this because nothing about this situation can end well. She can laugh with his friends and hear about his past, but this isn't her future. This isn't _their_ future, even as his arm slides around her shoulders and some of the lingering tension over being seen by Varik's spy eases from her when he touches her. This can't be their future, even though she makes some absent witty reply to a comment from Morvanli about how close she and Dwalin seem, even though she hears Dwalin laugh as he finally relaxes into their teasing. This isn't their future because people like Nori don't _have_ this, she knows that. Thieves don't just leave the Court, they don't just settle in the city that they had operated in, they don't marry into royal family lines and she knows full well that Dwalin and Thorin are cousins. Thieves don't fall in love with guards.

Love.

The thought makes something in her run cold. She doesn't know him well enough to love him. She doesn't _want_ to love him. It will only end badly for both of them and she can't afford the heartbreak. Neither can Dwalin. She shifts, noting how late it has become, and she knows that she needs to leave. She gets to her feet, slowly, feigning ease where all she wants to do is run like a spooked deer. Nori doesn't spook easily, however, and she won't run like it now. No need to make him suspicious of her thoughts or feelings, no need to make him wonder if she plans on stealing something or if she already has. She just needs to get way from him and the comforting feel of his muscular arm about her. She needs to clear her mind and think. Nori says none of this. She just declares that it is time for her to leave, that she needs to slip out alone as though she has escaped and would Dwalin mind organising a search for her in ten minutes or so, just in case she _is_ seen. He looks at her silently, then nods, his expression shifting from open and comfortable to closed again and she suspects that she hasn't managed to keep all of her thoughts to herself. No one stops her, though Ori clings to her for a moment longer than he needs to and slips her a purse when no one else is looking. She puts it straight back into his pocket, but he won't know that she has until she's gone. Dori sighs and frets and embraces her quickly, but he doesn't try to stop her from leaving either. She spares Balin a scowl and the royal husbands a mocking bow. Then she kisses Dwalin, just to see what the result will be, and pulls away feeling her heart racing and reluctance to leave fill her.

Nori is out of the door before the feeling can take hold. This is _not_ the time for this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I have written this? No. Did I want to? Oh, yes. Although now I really need to get caught up if I want to get these two assignments in on time. What's sleep??


	13. Midwife

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If Nori were sensible she would avoid Dwalin.

If Nori were sensible she would avoid Dwalin. Nori is not known for how her good sense when it comes to certain activities. The fact that she has some how fallen in love with the large guard makes a rather distressing amount of sense. Nori has never _looked_ for love. Frankly, she has always been of the opinion that the idea that any dwarf can find the one, two, or even three others that they will love above life and craft and riches is a crock of orc shit. A ludicrous fantasy perpetuated by children and romantics, especially by the romantics as an excuse to look down upon the way that she enjoys that side of her life to the absolute fullest. Naturally, therefore, it would make perfect sense that the one thing she isn't looking for and most certainly _does not need_ would drop on her at the worst possible time.

 _If_ she were sensible she would avoid Dwalin and do her level best to never see him again. If she were sensible she would go to the nearest tavern, find a dwarf with all the size and build and muscles that she prefers in a partner and have him fuck her into the mattress or against a wall until she can't remember her _own_ name, let alone Dwalin's. If she were sensible the thought of doing that wouldn't make her feel nauseous.

Sadly, Nori isn't always sensible.

She goes to Beryl first, although the excuse she uses is seeing Bofur to get him to appraise a sapphire pendant she pinched from Thorin on her way out after seeing Ori and Dori. There had to be _some_ profit in such a risky visit after all. She probably won't sell it, not until after all of this blows over anyway and she can leave town without having to nervously watch her back for more leagues than she wants to consider. She's curious, however, and she would like some idea of it's worth before going to see one of her fences in a Mannish town ten days away. It's always good to know what you have just in case someone tries to screw you over. Bofur values things for her, but that's as far as he is willing to go and rather closer to the wrong side of the law than he would like to get anyway. He only does it for her because he likes her and his sister is a good friend.

Nori leaves him quietly examining the stone and goes into Beryl's workroom, closing the door behind her and leaning against it dramatically. The midwife looks over at her, one of her elegantly curled eyebrows arched.

"What stupid thing have you done now?" She asks bluntly.

"I could use a soak," Nori replies with a waggle of her eyebrows and her friend huffs a laugh. "And I need some advice."

"It's been a long while since you've overdone it," Beryl comments, opening a drawer and reaching inside. "How many did it take this time?"

"Just one," Nori sighs, accepting the pouch of herbs, "which is the problem."

"Tell me," Beryl requests, turning in her chair so that she can see her friend properly. "He's got to be hung like a horse or something truly special to get you in this state." Nori has no idea whether Beryl is referring to the fact that she has requested a soothing soak or the fact that her emotional turmoil must be written over her face.

"If only it were that simple," she mutters.

"Tell me that you at least know his _name_ ," Beryl whispers.

"Dwalin, son of Fundin," Nori huffs.

"You caught Dwalin months ago, Nori," Beryl reminds her. "Are you telling me that you've been seeing him regularly?"

"No," Nori says quickly. "I hadn't seen him since all this stuff with the Claw started. I was caught out last night, he found me."

"And-" her friend prompts.

"And took me to his place where we spent the night fucking each other's brains out," Nori concludes.

"There's more to it than that," Beryl shakes her head, "a good shag doesn't get you this worked up."

"He saved my life," she admits, "but others have done that and it's never made me feel like _this_. Normally I just walk away."

"Someone was going to catch your eye eventually," Beryl smirks. "I can think of worse candidates than Dwalin, son of Fundin." There is an appreciative note in the way that Beryl says it and it makes something ugly coil in Nori.

Nori doesn't _do_ jealousy. It's a useless emotion that has absolutely _no_ place in her life, especially given the way she lives it. All the same, she cannot help but look at Beryl and see all the parts of her that Dwalin might like better. Her elegantly styled braids, simple mutton chops in place of the wealth of beard that Nori has. The delicate silver ring through her left nostril and the bright sapphire of her eyes. Her hair is the same mousey colour as Bofur's, but that somehow makes her eyes more striking, and she doesn't bear the scars and marks of a life lived on the wrong side of the faultline. One of the things that the two of them had bonded over was the fact that they had a preference for the same type of dwarf, for burly muscles and battle scars and rough edges that will never be fully weathered with age.

Beryl is watching her silently, calmly, though she must have an inkling of the rage that had just flashed through Nori. Beryl always knows these things about her.

"How many times did you see him before all of this with the Claw started?" Beryl asks.

"Too many," Nori replies.

"Alright," the midwife nods. "Anything unusual about those meetings?" Nori knows she means odd charms given or hours that she can't remember, but there isn't anything like that. Not even the guard's bead he gave her when they parted ways, she dropped that down a drain as soon as she was out of sight because it would have condemned her had Varik found it. She shakes her head. "Nothing at all?"

"There was the fix up," she shrugs, she told Beryl about that at the time.

"And it didn't strike you as odd that you were willing to risk warning a guard you'd fucked once?"

"Say what you mean!" Nori snaps.

"If this is the real thing," Beryl sighs, "there will have been signs as soon as you met. Things that you don't normally do, things that you don't normally feel and disappointments where there's usually satisfaction."

"Orc shit and elf tales," she snarls.

"There's a reason we don't do arranged matches, Nori," Beryl points out. "No matter how many times the Men have tried to push it in the past. If you don't believe in it, go out and find yourself another dwarf. If this isn't real you'll have a fantastic fuck and probably be here to get another soak in a few weeks while you get Dwalin out of your system. If it _is_ real, you won't even be able to contemplate it. Once you meet your One, that's it. There isn't anyone else, every lay will be as unsatisfying as the next until you realise it and once you have there isn't anyone else. _Ever_. That's it. That's my advice."

Nori stares at her friend, remembering the less than satisfying encounters of the last several months and her search for _something_ that had always remained just out of reach. She remembers her night with Dwalin and feeling satiated and boneless for the first time in too long. She thinks on looking out one of her old lovers, a guard named Avan who has always been a good option with eyes the same green as hers and hair a few shades darker than Beryl's. Her stomach clenches almost painfully and she stares at her friend in rising horror. The midwife opens her arms and Nori allows herself to be folded in her friend's embrace.

"What do I do?" She asks.

"Give it time," Beryl mutters, "get used to it, and don't say anything to him until you're ready. There's no rush, and things with the Claw are still bringing shafts down around you. You'll know when it's time."

Nori takes her leave after that, there isn't any more that she can say, and she pauses on the way out only long enough to take the pendant back off Bofur. Her friend looks at her seriously, his normally cheerful face drawn.

"I don't know where you got that, lass," he says without even the hint of a joke, "but get rid of it quick as you can. In pieces. And not all to the same fence. That's a rare and valuable piece, they'll be looking for it."

She pats his shoulder, harder than she intends and he winces a little but doesn't complain. She won't do anything with it now, there isn't any need really, and she has too much to think on. If she were sensible, she would avoid Dwalin for as long as possible. Seeing him will just confirm what she already knows. Eventually she will have to, though she will take her feelings to her grave if she can, and so she is annoyed to find that her feet have taken her towards a newly familiar part of the city. The entrance to the ruined parts of Belegost looms above her, a warning to all dwarves that the stone here is rotten and they need to tread with care or not at all. She aches and she's tired, her mind is swimming with everything that she has realised and been told and she wants to go somewhere safe and familiar. She follows the path, feet taking steps that tingle with all the warnings of the stone. Its louder around her now, clearer than it has ever been, guiding her and keeping her safe and she finds that house with ease.

It's empty.

There is neither sound nor sign of Dwalin, but a quick look around reveals the key. There is a length of soft cord attached to it and that cord comes from a leather pouch. She opens it curiously, suspecting that she shouldn't and unable to help herself. Diamond winks back at her and she swears softly when she realises what she's seeing. He's left a note as well, and Nori lets herself into the house before sitting to read it.

- ** _I'll buy you the emerald when you're_ _ready_** _-_

She is utterly fucked, but that doesn't stop her from welcoming him when he arrives in the middle of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bet with a chapter title like that you thought I was going in a different direction with this one? No? Ok. I'm supposed to be studying cells, because apparently before I can get onto the physics part of my degree I have to do a little bit of all the sciences first. I don't like biology. I'm rewarding myself for making it through sections by writing. It has nothing to do with Nori being a little bit loud at the moment. Nothing at all.


	14. Falling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nori doesn't tell Dwalin about her epiphany.

Nori doesn't tell Dwalin about her epiphany. She doesn't want to and she begins to suspect that she doesn't need to either. Nor does she suddenly start spending every night with him, no matter _how_ much she has started to crave him in between visits. Dwalin lets her move at her own pace, whether that means seeing him once a week or daily. For a time the tensions between Tricksters and Claw begin to ease and she begins to spend less time looking over her shoulder. Something else is coming, it always does, but for a moment calm has descended. She fails to notice that Varik calls on her less and less, fails to be concerned about the fact that he doesn't seek her advice as he once did or ask her to see the truth. She has her mind on other things, and the free time is welcome besides.

She takes to walking through Dwalin's house naked when he isn't there, the diamond pendant of the little clamp he had given her glittering between her thighs as she walks, tugging and teasing until she is a desperate mess by the time he arrives. More than once he has arrived to find her already in the bed, thighs parted and fingers teasing her sensitive pearl as she uses a polished stone cock to bring herself to the edge. Sometimes he will stop and watch, releasing himself from his trousers and stroking himself in time to her thrusts, refusing to peak until she has cried out with hers and then plunging into her before she has had the chance to recover. Other times he snatches the toy from her and rolls her onto her knees, fucking into her until she is a quivering mess beneath him. Neither of them has put words to what ever this might be, but it is clear enough to Nori that they cannot keep from touching one another. Other days, when she has resisted the urge to go to their bed, he will arrive home only to find himself slammed against the wall with her lips on his and her fingers frantically unlacing his trousers, times when she falls to her knees and swallows him to the root working him until he spills down her throat with a roar, muffling her own shout as her own fingers bring her off. Others he will lift her in his strong arms, turn and take her the same way that he did their first time, holding her on the edge until she is begging him to let her tip over.

What they do not do is soft and gentle, loving and tender. Nori isn't ready for that and she likes it the way that it is, hot and rough and hard.

Her favourite evening, however, is one where Dwalin is in the house before she is, waiting sat on a strange chair with a smirk on his face and her new favourite piece of jewellery twirling between his thick fingers. She obeys without thought when he tells her to strip, not caring that the door is still open as she removes layer after layer of clothes under his increasingly heated gaze until she is bare before him. He stands, strutting towards her and circling her, kicking the door closed and coming to stand behind her, large arms about her waist and his free fingers drifting over her skin. She presses back into him. Ordinarily, Nori would fight against such a tone, control in these matters is important to her. Ordinarily, Dwalin wouldn't _take_ quite such a tone with her, though he is dominating enough in the way she enjoys he doesn't really _order_ her to do anything, or circle her like a warg about to move in for the kill. She whimpers when he circles her pearl with one rough digit. His breath ghosting over her ear.

"Put it on," he orders, pressing the clip into her hands and pulling back. She obeys as he watches, nimble fingers made clumsy by her arousal and the fact that she is standing. "Good," he breathes when she is done, the pressure drawing a harsh gasp from her as he steps close enough to tug on it lightly. "Come."

He draws her towards the odd thing he had been sitting on when she arrived and she realises it is not a chair as she had first thought, but a padded frame for her to kneel upon, her chest pressed against a support with her arms on rests on either side. His hands are gentle as he helps her to settle and she notes the restraints that dangle uselessly at the armrests, presumably there are matching ones at her ankles, but Dwalin doesn't move to put them on.

"Remember what we discussed," he says, withdrawing enough that she can think about more than the cool leather beneath her skin, the touch of his rough hands against her legs and the rustle of his clothes.

"I remember," she assures him.

"Do you want the cuffs?" He mutters and part of her is tempted to tell him that she does, she trusts him enough to know that he will do what she wants should she need them removed, but she doesn't.

"No," she whispers.

He doesn't reply but his hands are on her again, reaching around the strange frame to toy with her, barely grazing over her pearl but the clip means that the tiniest of touches feels like fire through her. The fingers of his other hand sink into her, curling and stretching and before she knows it she is gasping as he drags her release from her with a speed she hadn't been expecting. She hasn't even begun to come down when she feels something large and blunt nudging at her entrance. It is not Dwalin's cock, Nori knows the feel of that well enough by now and the shape is wrong. She knows what it is, remembers exactly what she discussed with Dwalin and she shifts so that she can see only to feel his hand hold her in place. The haft of the axe is wide, wider than Dwalin, and wrapped in leather to give him better grip. She gasps as he inserts it slowly, easing it into her until she shudders and hisses out the word they agreed on, the word that would tell him that the axe couldn't go any further. She groans when it moves, pressing against her walls as Dwalin braces it, realising that not only has he brought this frame as support for her, he has had it designed so that the chosen axe will slot into a frame of its own to keep it where he needs it.

Nori shifts again, finding that she has just enough give to rise over the haft without it slipping out and she whines at the stretched feeling. It isn't quite enough, she can't quite move sufficiently to make it enough, but she hears Dwalin step away and make an appreciative noise of his own, hears the rustle of clothing being removed even as she continues to shift restlessly, searching for that little bit of friction and stilling when he lays a hand on her back once more. Then one of his fingers begins to tease at her hole, running around the puckered rim softly, slick with warm oil as he taunts her. Nori is no stranger to this either, though she doesn't enjoy it as much on its own, so the first breach of his finger is easy as she relaxes into the touch. She already feels full with the axe haft in her cunt and when he presses a second finger into her that feeling intensifies. She starts to move again, can't help herself as his fingers twist and stretch, until the hand on her hip tenses and his grip is harsh.

"Hold still, thief," he hisses in her ear, pressing his back against hers and she can feel how much he wants her in that brief moment. "You will be still or this stops, am I clear?"

"Yes," she gasps, forcing herself to still even though she cannot stop the tremors that rush through her at the effort. His fingers twist and withdraw. "I promise, _please_ ," she almost wails and they return, along with a third.

She holds as still as she can, desperate to move but even more desperate to feel him fill her completely. Finally, when she feels like she might collapse from the control she has been exerting over herself, his fingers are withdrawn and replaced by the broad head of his cock. He's large, she knows that and she loves it, but now he seems impossibly big as he slowly enters her. He fills and stretches her until she is almost certain that she is going to tear apart, but she doesn't stop him and isn't sure that she could speak even if she wanted to. Dwalin is breathing as heavily as she is by the time he is seated in her fully, pressing against her and running his lips along the back of her neck. His entry has raised her off the axe slightly and when he withdraws again the haft slide back in fully and makes her groan. Dwalin starts slowly, his movements careful and measured but not gentle, until he is certain that she has fully adjusted. Once that happens he begins to use more force, filling her with the haft of the axe when he withdraws and almost removing it entirely when he drives forward. It quickly gets to the point where all Nori can feel is rising pleasure, all she can see is the lights firing behind her eyes as he tips her into release after release, drawing screams from her that seem to last forever as one orgasm crashes into another between the stimulation of her pearl as the clip catches lightly on the edge of the bench with each thrust, the movement of the axe haft inside her cunt and rapid pace of Dwalin's cock in her ass.

She's weightless by the time he spills into her, drawing one last tremor from her exhausted body as he goes still. He slumps against her briefly and she sags a little, now glad of the bench and the way that it holds her, glad that it has made what had seemed like an otherwise impossible idea a reality. Her mind refuses to work, even as Dwalin eases out of her slowly, even as she hears a bolt being moved and the axe is just as gently withdrawn. That gets her attention, the way that she now feels empty, and she shudders as he runs gentle hands over her, fingers seeking the little clip so that he can remove that too and it sends another wave of relief through her when he does so.

Even then, Nori still can't move, can't bring herself to try, and Dwalin gathers her into his arms, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead as he carries her into the bathroom. The water in the half filled bath is still steaming, the natural hot springs in this part of the mountain being used to their utmost in this house, and he lowers her into the water gently, leaning against the side with her between his legs as he lathers up a cloth and begins to wash her, the tenderness of his touch soothing her back from the edge of pleasure filled oblivion.

"Drink," he mutters, handing her a flask of cool water from the edge.

She takes it, though her hands still don't quite remember how to function, sipping slowly as he continues to wash her until his fingers find her mussed hair and beard.

"May I?" He breathes and she doesn't even think about it before giving her permission, too fucked out to think or care.

The water smells of the familiar herb soak she gets from Beryl, one she has taken to storing here, and she is glad that she showed Dwalin where to find it and what it was for as strong fingers work through her hair and massage at her scalp. Maybe this One love thing isn't so bad after all.

Not that she intends on admitting it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know. I have no excuses except that I blame Jimiel for putting the idea in my head and the little inner Nori and Dwalin that exist in this universe for running with it. I'm definitely going to special hell and I'm taking you all with me!!!
> 
> I submitted my assignments and wrote this in celebration. This wasn't quite the celebration that I had in mind. 
> 
> *hides*


	15. Trap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The period of quiet doesn't last

The period of quiet doesn't last and Nori rapidly finds friends and acquaintances on the list of Tricksters close to Varik who have been eliminated after being lulled into a false sense of security. Worse still, more and more innocent bystanders are getting caught in between. Dwalin tells her that Thorin is at the stage where he has declared that enough is enough, if things between the to groups of thieves don't calm down he will be marching the guard into the lower quarter and dealing with the problem personally. The Council in Nogrod are going to do the same.

"It isn't up to me," she tells him, "I'm not the Trickster King and I have no pull with the Claw at all. I can't stop this, Dwalin, it was inevitable as soon as your brother approached Saarn to set this whole mess up."

"I'm not telling you to get you to put a stop to it lass," Dwalin replies softly, his fingers moving lazily through her loose hair as she leans against him in in the house that she is slowly starting to think of as theirs. "I'm telling you so that you make yourself scarce for a couple of weeks. I don't want you getting caught up in the middle of it."

"I can't do that," she replies, "you know I can't. It would make the King suspicious."

"I think he already is," Dwalin points out. "When was the last time he told you his plans."

"As if I'd tell you any of them," she scoffs, but the words make something cold run through her. In the months before this whole mess with the Claw started Varik would call Nori to him at least three times a week to see those who he believed weren't being as truthful as they ought to be. He hasn't summoned her for such a task in nearly two weeks, though the same problems must still crop up. "Fuck," she hisses.

Varik has noticed her distraction and the fact that the cause of it will give her reason for divided loyalties. Her loyalties _have_ become divided, she realises. When she first met Dwalin, and it's a shock to realise that seven months have passed since that first night when she taunted him into chasing her, she would never have questioned warning Varik of the threat that was coming. Now, however, when she knows that Varik will use all of his cunning and resources to ensure that Thorin never attempts such a thing again, she isn't sure she _can_ warn her king. If Thorin is to lead the attack he will have Dwalin at his side and any plan to stop Thorin will affect her guard as well. This is why she has always resisted long term entanglements in the past, it was never going to end well.

"Will you leave?" Dwalin asks her.

"I can't," she shakes her head. "He's already suspicious, if I leave he'll work out that I knew as soon as the attack comes. I'll be a target for the Tricksters and the Claw. I have to stay."

"It could get you killed it you do," Dwalin snaps. "I'm not- I can't- I need to be at Thorin's side, but I can't do that when I might have to watch one of the others kill you, or find your body after all's done."

"I didn't know you cared," she tries to tease and winces when it falls flat.

"Don't play your games, Nori, not with me," Dwalin snarls. She turns in his arms and presses her forehead to his.

"I have to go to him," she whispers, "I'll see what he knows and as soon as it begins I'll slip out and find a place to hole up."

"Promise me," Dwalin mutters and she gives it easily.

Nori slips out before Dwalin wakes the following morning, leaving as silently as she arrives, weaving her way through the city and idly picking pockets as she goes. Varik is tricky at the best of times, difficult to manipulate once he has settled on a course of action, and it won't be easy to get the truth from him if he has decided not to trust her. He shouldn't trust her, she thinks, in the past she wouldn't have thought twice about keeping his secrets. She'd betray him for Dwalin without a thought. Love, Nori concludes, is an insidious danger.

"Well, don't you look pleased with yourself," Varik sneers when he sees her. "Finally dragged yourself away from your guard?"

"Which one?" She replies, one of habit more than truth. "You and I both know that just one guard would be dull." Varik glares at her.

"And what sweet nothings does Dwalin, son of Fundin, whisper in your ear to keep you so interested?" He growls.

"'Don't steal everything I have' for the most part," she shrugs. "He's got cock like you wouldn't believe," she adds, "and he keeps up with me, which is a rare gift." She pulls out one of her little knives, leaning against a wall and using it to clean under her fingernails. "What's got your beard all in a knot?"

"As if you don't know," one of his companions sneers, a dark haired dwarf named Ingolf. She fixes hard green eyes on him.

"I wasn't asking you," she replies, "of course I don't know, I'm a Truth Seer, not a Fortune Teller."

"You surprise me," Ingolf mutters, "as often as that guard's cock is down your throat you'd think that you would have managed to get all manner of secrets out of him. Unless your skills are exaggerated."

"I'd invite you to try them," she replies coolly, "but I doubt you've got enough in those trousers to satisfy a thimble."

"Enough," Varik sighs. "You're telling me you had no idea that Thorin is going to move against us?"

"Bring the guard down you mean?" She clarifies and he nods. "He sent that message months ago, what's got you listening to it now?"

"I have a source that tells me he intends to strike tonight," Varik informs her.

"Want me to See him and make sure he's telling the truth?" She offers, and some of the tension in the Trickster King lessens.

"No," Varik says, "we've been expecting it, which you would know if you spent less time with the guard between your legs."

"The Claw have been trying to kill me for months," she points out, "they killed one dwarf while he was _busy_ between my legs, even if he _was_ doing a piss poor job of it. I'm just making the most of my life before this stupid thieves war puts an end to it. Are we evacuating?"

"No," he replies and although there is a flicker of red it isn't bright enough to be an outright lie.

"But," she prompts and his lips twist.

"We'll establish new headquarters," Varik tells her, "my source is going to make sure that Thorin knows where to find this one." No red, but Nori pauses in the act of picking at her nails all the same. "We'll bring the building down as he arrives, the chaos should be enough to keep him occupied." This time the red flare is almost blinding.

"Don't lie to me, Varik," she snaps. "What's the real plan?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"So that I can tell you it's a stupid one," she replies.

"I'm making peace," he tells her. "This is the cost of getting the Claw back in their own territory and away from us. I'm eliminating the one who gave them the contract in the first place. I find it interesting that you didn't tell me it was _Balin_ , son of Fundin who started all of this."

"They have my brothers," she snarls, "what would you have me do? Take the risk that Thorin isn't as honourable as he likes to make out that he is? You know me better than that. The only people I'm more loyal to than you are my brothers."

This isn't news. Every Trickster King has always known that Nori's loyalty lies with her brothers first and them second. Normally this isn't a problem and even if Thorin _were_ holding her brother hostage in exchange for her silence it still wouldn't be one. It has long been accepted that those who follow the Trickster King have family ties and that the vast majority of them would choose their family over the Court. It's part of what keeps them loyal. They don't necessarily fear the retribution of the Court against _themselves_ , they fear what might be done to their family. It's why Nori has to be so careful about the line she walks now, not just for Dori and Ori's sake but for Dwalin as well. Not for the first time she curses the fact that she didn't buy her way out when Varik took charge nineteen years ago.

"Then you'll be pleased to know that after tonight Thorin won't be able to threaten them any longer," Varik grins smugly. "Unfortunately, it will mean sacrificing your guard, but if he's just a scratch for your usual itch as you say he is it won't be long until you find a replacement. Never is where you're concerned."

Nori tilts her chin, she has long perfected the art of keeping her emotions to herself, but panic is filling her. Varik's words almost confirm what she already suspects, he means to kill Thorin, Balin and Dwalin.

"Where are the rest of us going?" She asks.

"No," Varik shakes his head, "I won't be telling you that. If Sylvi is to be believed this was all a ploy to convince you to enter the service of our displaced king."

The Trickster King lunges for her, knife in hand. Nori shifts, barely managing to block the thrust and feels the blade skitter across the top of her chest, worryingly close to her throat. He means to eliminate her as well, she realises, and more than likely it's as part of the deal with the Claw. She kicks him away, grabbing her own knife and crouching, ready to meet his next attack. Then she feels a sting at the base of her skull and blackness claims her.

She wakes with a splitting headache and cursing up a storm. Ingolf is gifted, she _knows_ that, and while he isn't strong enough to use it to make an honest living he has some small skill in the kind of spells that would render a dwarf unconscious. Her hands are tied and a number of her knives are missing, but like the city guards Ingolf and Varik have missed enough of them that Nori wouldn't consider herself lightly armed. They even managed to miss one in easy enough reach that she can use it to cut her way out of her bonds and stumble to her feet. She's in a closet, one that they haven't even bothered to lock which likely means that they didn't expect her to wake before the trap was sprung. Ingolf must be tired or over estimating his talents. Which doesn't matter at all because whatever it is must be happening soon and she doesn't want to be in this warehouse when it does. Nor can she risk Dwalin getting caught in it either, she doesn't care about Thorin or Balin particularly since this is their fault, and she hurries out through one of the hidden passages that Jarl showed her when he started to teach her about the Sight. The build up of dust shows that it hasn't been used in decades, probably since before Jarl died, and she decides that speed has to win out over stealth.

The scratch on her chest from Varik's knife stings as she pushes her way through the dusty tunnel into the city above and she curses her own stupidity. Of _course_ Varik would need to get rid of her as well. She is perfectly aware of the hollowness of words and he is one of the few who knows that her ability to _see_ the truth doesn't stop her from concealing it when it takes her fancy. She would have been dead long ago if she couldn't lie with the best of them. A glance up tells her that it is almost night and she bites off a couple more curses. If what Varik said was true, Thorin will already be advancing on the warehouse, she doesn't have a lot of time and there are too many routes that they could take for her to be certain that she will find the right one. The only option she has is to scramble up the nearest tall building or wait close to the warehouse and _hope_ that she will catch them before they get the chance to enter. Nori stumbles, pain lancing through her from the lingering affects of whatever spell Ingolf used to knock her out and maybe he had simply hoped that she would wake in too much pain to stop Varik's plans, perhaps he had hoped she would be conscious for whatever agonising death the Trickster King has planned. Either way, it makes her decision for her. She isn't far from the main route to the warehouse and if Thorin is bringing both royal and city guard he will need a clear route. She runs.

Nori spots them near the warehouse, crouched low in alleys and waiting.

"Don't go in there," she gasps to Dwalin when she reaches him, managing to clamber over a roof so that she can drop down beside him through sheer desperation. She yelps when she lands, pain lancing through her again and she decides that she will have to kill Ingolf slowly when she gets her hands on him. "It's a trap." Dwalin's hands come up to support her, his face showing his concern and she wishes there was time to reassure him.

"What do you mean?" Thorin snaps.

"I mean that you have a lass named Sylvi working in your halls who has reported everything about this cluster of fuck ups to Varik," she snarls, "and Varik intends to kill you, me, Dwalin _and_ Balin for our involvement so that we can make peace with the Claw." She sees Thorin pale. "What?"

"Morvanli and Suli insisted on going in first with a small contingent," Dwalin says before Thorin can reply.

"Get them out!" She cries. She has grown fairly fond of the royal husbands in the short time she's known them. "Not you, just send _someone_ before-"

The world explodes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My assignments are in and it's out of my hands. Huzzah. Stress shows in my writing, which might be why Nori has hit this stage of the story.


	16. Grief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nori realises what has happened almost instantly

Nori realises what has happened almost instantly, even as she blinks the brilliant flashes of fire and shakes her head in a futile attempt to clear the ringing in her ears. Varik has destroyed the warehouse with Morvanli, Suli and a contingent of guards inside it. Any hope that the Court might have had for getting out of this unscathed is gone. They didn't have much hope to begin with. Even if Thorin, Balin and Dwalin had been eliminated as planned, Nori knows Dis well enough by now to know that the princess wouldn't have rested until Varik and his followers had been sent to the waiting judgement of Mahal.

"Nori!" She hears Dwalin roar and she turns wide eyes on him, only now realising that she has fallen to the ground. "You need to get out of here!" She nods and tries to stand, only for her legs to collapse out from under her again.

"I'm not sure that I can," she shakes her head. Whatever Ingolf did to her is still affecting her.

"Get her away from here, Dwalin!" Thorin snaps. "But don't take her too far, I want to know everything that she does."

The guard are already moving to bring the fire that has resulted from the explosion under control. Perhaps they hope that they might find some of the dwarves inside alive, but a glance is enough to tell her that it is unlikely. Dwalin objects, he should be with Thorin, he should be looking for Morvanli and Suli, they can't be certain that this is the only trap that Varik had set. Nori shakes her head, dragging herself to her feet and letting out a harsh whimper. Ingolf definitely needs to die slowly, and Sylvi is going to be added to that list too. She's been hurt worse than this before, she's managed to get out of worse scrapes than this too. She can fight through the pain to get away.

"Do what you need to," she tells Dwalin. "I'll meet you at the house."

Every step hurts, but she manages to get out of sight before she has to lean against the nearest wall just so that she can breathe. She's vulnerable like this, but it would be worse if she had been with Dwalin. Dwalin is large and noticeable, if Varik has any sense he will have allowed for the possibility that Thorin, Balin or Dwalin may not have been caught in the explosion. Then again, if Varik had any sense he wouldn't have been so obvious about _how_ the three of them ended up dead. It is far easier, after all, to stab someone in the back during an all out brawl than to bring a building down on them. She staggers through the street, keeping out of sight as much as possible, but she's so covered in dirt that she isn't sure any of the other Tricksters would recognise her straight away anyway. She almost thinks that Dwalin will beat her to the house, but it is dark when she gets there and she collapses at the table as soon as she is inside.

She starts shaking almost instantly, a combination of pain, exhaustion and the after effects of her frantic rush to warn Dwalin about what was waiting for him. She needs to wash, utterly filthy from the passage and the explosion and her own blood from the scrape of Varik's knife, but she cannot bring herself to stand or move. It hurts too much. Her eyes fall onto the half loaf of bread still on the table, the jar of preserves next to it and she realises that she should eat. She's not hungry, her stomach feels like it has been filled with lead, but she also knows that she hasn't eaten since dinner the night before. She needs to, she realises, especially if she is going to face Thorin's scrutiny over all of this. The bread tastes like ash in her mouth, sits heavy and awkward inside her and more than once she thinks she might bring it back up. Nori gives up on it after a few bites, forcing herself to her feet so that she can clean up instead. Beryl would be furious with her for leaving her wound untreated for this long and Nori carefully peels off her filthy clothes as she runs a bath that is only just deep enough for her to wash in. She doesn't linger like she usually would, doesn't soak the ache from her muscles. She washes mechanically and quickly, drying herself roughly and dressing in loose trousers and shirt, boots on her feet though they are filthy, and waits for Dwalin at the table in the kitchen.

Her hair gets pulled back into a simple braid, she does the same with her beard. The points of a star belong to the thief that she has always been. Right now she doesn't feel like a thief, doesn't want to look like a thief. The few times that she had visited Dori and Ori had usually resulted in spending time with Morvanli and Suli as well. She hadn't known them as well as she might have liked to, but they had begun to become friends and they shouldn't have been caught up in the mess that Balin and Thorin had created. Nori has heard stories about what happens to dwarves who lose their One suddenly, she's heard stories about the way that some soldiers just stopped in the middle of battle, as much a part of the stone as their partner. It's one of the reasons that she had always hoped never to find that dwarf, or dwarves, who she would love for the rest of her days. She knows the stories of dwarves who had time to prepare for the loss of their One over weeks or even years, dwarves who turned to craft or wealth to fill the cracks left by the love that had been taken from him. It is what happened to Thror, after all, who lost his wife and saw nothing but gold for the rest of his days until he brought the dragon down on Erebor and got so many of them killed in his foolish desire to reclaim Khazad-dum.

She waits at the kitchen table, a tankard of ale in front of her, until Dwalin arrives. It is morning, he is covered in dirt and blood and his eyes are haunted. He stares at her without really seeing her, moving automatically to set his weapons to one side then stripping out of his dust covered clothing. He doesn't speak, but nor does he need to, his shoulders are hunched and she can feel the grief rolling off him. If the royal husbands were slowly becoming _her_ friends, they have long been his and he must feel their loss keenly. Nori follows him into the bathroom, feet silent, and sheds her own clothes as she does so. The water is hot and Dwalin stares down at it from his position in the centre, unmoving. She joins him, cloth and soap in hand, washing him with almost tentative hands. This is _her_ fault. If she had moved faster, if she had _thought_ before trying to be smug, trying to be clever enough to weasel Varik's plan out of him perhaps the ones lost this last night would have lived. She doesn't say it, it's a useless thought that will do none of them any good in the long run. She's standing before him, hands running down one arm, when he stops her and trails his fingers over the deep scratch left by Varik's knife.

"You're hurt," he breathes, voice rough and broken.

"Varik didn't take too kindly to the idea that I might try to warn you to stay away," she replies.

"Would you have?" He asks.

"I ended up knocked out and tied up in a cupboard," she tells him. "I would have warned you sooner otherwise. Does Dis-?"

"Aye," he breathes heavily, "aye we told her. She's got the lads but-" he takes a shuddering breath, "I don't know if they'll be enough to stop her from going to stone. If you knew the plan before today, Nori, I need to know. Thorin's out for blood, I don't want it to be yours."

"I didn't," she tells him. "I swear it. I wouldn't have let it happen if I had known before hand, you know that."

"Aye," he sags, his face crumpling, "I know you would."

His fingers start to trace the scratch again, though it has long stopped bleeding, but the location of it shows just how close she must have come to dying, speaks of a hasty avoidance of what might otherwise have killed her. Then his lips are on hers, hard and punishing, almost brutal in the way that he claims her mouth and grips her shoulders. She kisses him back with equal fervour, clinging to him just as desperately. Dis has lost her husbands, Nori would have lost Dwalin if he hadn't stayed back with Thorin. She can't turn him away, she won't, even when his grip turns bruising, even when he lifts her so that she can wrap her legs around him and plunges into her without a thought. She can feel tears on his cheeks as he drives into her, she kisses him and soothes him as she feels her own peak approaching It isn't bright and brilliant like it usually would be, rolling over her in a wave of bittersweet pleasure that draws little more than a sigh from her as he follows.

His arms are still wrapped around her as she eases her legs from around him and wriggles until she can stand. He clings to her and though he is no stranger to grief, this is a sudden and senseless loss that he cannot possibly have been prepared for the possibility of. Nori has no experience of this, of being with someone lost in their grief and comforting them. She does what she can, continues the way she started by leading him from the bath and drying him gently, dressing them both in loose shirts, leading him to the bed and convincing him to lie down then crawling in with him and taking him into her arms. He falls asleep quickly, grief and a long night catching up with him, and she joins him in slumber rapidly.

They wake to the sound of heavy pounding on the door and Dwalin grabs a sword from under the bed before telling her to stay where she is. Nori objects, and he fixes her with a look that tells her to be quiet and do as he has told her. He's lost enough, she knows, and she isn't going to place him in a position where he has to fear losing her too. She waits nervously, hands twisting in the sheets as she clamps down hard on the instinct to climb out of the window and run. She hasn't survived so much of her life by waiting and hiding, it is a hard thing to start doing now, until Dwalin comes in and tells her to join them. Thorin has come, and he wants answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All aboard the angst train!


	17. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thorin sits in front of her

Thorin sits in front of her, hands folded loosely on the table and face lined with exhaustion. Dwalin hovers behind her, silent and tense though whether he is ready to defend her or ensure that she doesn't hurt Thorin, Nori has no idea. Nori isn't properly dressed, her shirt still hangs loose about her neck and her hair and beard still hang in single braids. The shirt hangs off one shoulder, making the cut that runs too close to her neck for comfort far more obvious and Thorin's eyes linger on it.

"When did you know?" He demands. "When did you know that the Trickster King meant to kill us?"

"When he tried to kill me," she replies, gesturing to the wound that shows how close Varik came.

"And you didn't warn us sooner?" He snarls. Dwalin shifts behind her and she sees Thorin turn his hard gaze onto his cousin.

"I was a little bit busy being unconscious and tied up in a closet at the time," she hisses. "Which is my own fault for forgetting that he has a mage," she adds when Thorin glares at her. "Believe me, if I had known before hand I would have warned Dwalin."

"You wouldn't have come directly to me?" Thorin presses.

"Given recent events? No," Nori shakes her head, "I would not. Although at least I know the name of the one who has been reporting everything back to Varik," she has no problem mentioning his name now. As soon as Varik tried to kill her any residual loyalty to the Trickster King vanished like smoke up a chimney. "You have a 'dam by the name of Sylvi working in your halls. If I were you I would look at her family very closely."

"We've only one Sylvi in the halls, thief," Dwalin says, "she's one of Dis' ruthukhînh."

"She's the one we left _with_ Dis when we came here," Thorin responds in alarm. "You are certain that was the name Varik gave you?"

"Remembering details is important in my line of work," she snaps, "and there was no hint of a lie to him. The 'dam is called Sylvi." Thorin pulls a face.

His guards, Nori has noted, have remained outside and she is sure that they are well trusted and of impeccable reputation. She's certain that Sylvi is as well and in light of the information she expects Thorin to leap to his feet and rush out to his sister or at least alert his guard. He doesn't, he simply lifts his hand and calls forth a ball of brilliant blue fire. The king is a war mage, after all, that must include an ability to far speak.

"Balin," he snaps into the fire and she hears his advisor respond. "Go to my sister's rooms and sit with her, keep watch over the ruthukhînh with her. I have been told that she is a traitor. We will be bringing the Truth Seer to varify."

"Oh you will?" Noir demands, shoving her chair back and standing. "Do you really think I'm staying long enough to get myself any deeper into this orcshit than I already am?"

"Much of this is on _you_ anyway," Thorin tells her. "If you had only accepted my offer in the first place-"

"I would have been dead within days, you _stil_ _l_ wouldn't have had yourself a Truth Seer and Varik would have caught word of Balin's decision to approach the Claw through Sylvi," she hisses, "but I wouldn't have been around to warn you. Don't pin this on me because you didn't take the time to understand the delicate balance that you were upsetting."

"Nori," Dwalin's tone is soothing, "we just need to be sure that Dis and the boys are safe. Surely you can stay long enough to give us that much?"

The look Thorin gives Dwalin is baffled and Nori wonders if Dwalin's cousin has any idea of what the large guard gets up to with her. The idea that she might be something of a dirty secret to Dwalin sits ill and make her contemplate leaving anyway. Even the idea of running without Dwalin at her side makes her feel sick and she hates that this thing they have has wormed so deeply under her skin, hates that it has become love and that she seems to have found the One destined for her by Mahal at the worst possible moment. She looks up at him, takes a breath, and nods.

"Just this once," she tells him. "I liked Morvanli and Suli, I'll make sure that their wife and children are safe." Dwalin leans down to press his forehead to hers.

"Thank you," he whispers.

"Don't thank me," she mutters back, "my staying might still get us all killed."

In truth, Varik is unlikely to target Thorin, Balin or Dwalin again. He has made his point and made it clear that even the most powerful family in Belegost cannot stand against the Trickster's Court. In fact, this will probably do a lot of damage to the power that Thorin has in the area, it shows a lack of control over his people that will make others assume he is a weak king. There have been rumours that the line of Durin has begun to fail for decades, that the blood of the greatest of their forefathers has run too thin, that ill luck follows them and it is time to replace them. _This_ will only add fuel to those rumours which have followed them from Erebor that a vein of insanity runs deep through them.

Still, for Dwalin's sake she agrees to help them, she retires to the bedroom she shares with him and pulls on her simple clothes in the darkest colours she can find. Nori isn't known for wearing dark colours and simple styles unless she has a mark, Varik probably believes that she is dead and Nori intends to let him hold to that belief for as long as possible. To that end she picks up the purple hood Dori made her for her birthday weeks before, one that she has never worn and had sworn she never would. She doesn't really like the colour, though it is tied heavily with what they know of her father's family, but her well known distaste for it in the Court will work to her advantage now.

In the following weeks, that hood rarely comes off.

Sylvi is easily dealt with. She takes one look at Nori, realises that she is with Thorin, and falls to pieces. She's Varik's cousin, married to a wealthy merchant who Varik had threatened to kill if she did not report back on the goings on within Thorin's Halls. She is dismissed immediately, of course, but she is with child and not even a traitor can be harmed while in that condition. Thorin seems irked by it, but there is nothing else that he can do under the circumstances. Sylvi had no idea where Varik has holed himself up, had been waiting for him to come to her, and so Thorin sends the guard out with orders that every member of the Court be arrested on sight and brought to him for interrogation. He intends on finding Varik and when he does the Trickster King's suffering will be immense.

Nori is carted away by Dori and Ori, who seek to reassure themselves that she is relatively unharmed, and between her brothers and Dwalin she quickly finds it impossible to sneak out of town. It's annoying, not being able to be alone for as long as she might like, but there is more to it than that. She starts feeling more lethargic than she usually does and starts to wake in the mornings with a sour stomach. She passes it off as the food in Thorin's Halls disagreeing with her, and though it is safer here for her than it would be in the house she has started to share with Dwalin, Nori eventually tells him that she cannot cope with being confined any longer. She needs to get out and walk the streets, get a read of the situation for herself. She doesn't mention that she needs to prepare to leave to Dori and Ori, the longer she stays the more likely it is that Varik will find out that she is alive and the Trickster King is proving as elusive as ever. She does mention it to Dwalin, however, and is surprised when he tells her that he will be going with her. The possibility that he might leave Thorin's side had never occurred to her and the more that she thinks on it, the more appealing it sounds. So she waits and things seem to calm down and there is still no sign of Varik. Nori begins to hope that he has realised the magnitude of his error and made himself scarce.

"Is this supposed to be here?" Dwalin asks her one evening when they are curled together in bed. They will be leaving Ered Luin soon, provided Thorin doesn't put another stumbling block in Dwalin's way. He's fiddling with her charm and she scowls at him. "Feel it," he says, taking her hand so that he can press the charm into her fingers, "here, feel that chip."

"It's always been there," she lies but a pit opens in her stomach. That chip most certainly has _not_ always been there and usually she is in the habit of checking her charm every month when her courses come.

Which they haven't yet.

Fuck.

Dwalin seems happy enough with the answer, though, yawning and rolling close to her. He falls asleep quickly but Nori lies awake for hours, fingers brushing over the chip and then touching the new scar. Varik's knife could well have caused the damage and damaged charms aren't as effective as they should be. She will have to see Beryl in the morning, and she knows that it's a risk. If Varik hasn't left town, if he is trying to find out where she is hiding, the midwife and healer for most of the Court will be the one to watch.

She takes the risk anyway, slipping out almost as soon as Dwalin has gone to Thorin muttering under his breath about his cousin needing to accept that he is leaving. Nori waits an hour after he has left, puts on her street clothes and slips from the house, taking as many back routes as possible to Beryl's house as she can. Just because she cannot see a watcher or feel a tail doesn't mean that there isn't one. She reaches the house without incident, slips in quietly and hurries to the workroom without stopping to talk to Bofur, Bifur or Bombur on the way.

"I'm so glad you're alive," Beryl breathes as soon as she sees Nori, flinging her arms around the thief. "When I didn't hear from you I thought that Varik might have succeeded in killing you."

"It'll take more than that," Nori laughs.

"Well, not that I'm not thrilled, of course, but why are you still here?"

"Soon as Thorin stops being an ass about it Dwalin and I are leaving," Nori tells her.

"Together?" She nods, and the midwife's face splits into a wide grin. "You've told him, then?"

"No," Nori sighs, "I will, but not yet. I'm not sure I entirely believe it yet."

"You didn't come just to see me," Beryl points out. "What happened?"

"I need a new charm," Nori tells her. "Varik tried to kill me and I think he chipped mine when he did it."

Beryl raises a curled eyebrow then tells her to lie on the cot and lift her shirts. Nori's protests are met with a stern glare and a firm hand and all to soon the thief finds herself on her back as the warmth of Beryl's gift flows through her.

"Congratulations," Beryl smiles. "You're about six weeks pregnant."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two more chapters to go and then that's the end of this part of Nori and Dwalin's story.
> 
> Butchered Khuzdul:
> 
> ruthukhînh: Hand maid/ Hand lady


	18. Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being pregnant complicates things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note the tag updates, this chapter deals with some sensitive topics centred around child loss and miscarriage.

Being pregnant complicates things.

As with most things in her life, the big changes seem to be coming alone at the worst possible times. Nori could accept being in love with Dwalin, she hasn't _said_ it but she has _accepted_ it, she could even accept the fact that their relationship was always going to eventually mean that she would have to leave Ered Luin if they ever wanted to have any sort of life together. She had never factored children into that because she had never thought about where they might go that would be safe enough for children. There are few dwarf settlements left that are not months of treacherous journey away, she will have given birth long before then. One thing she knows is that she can't tell Dwalin, not yet. He would dig his heels in as deeply as he could and insist that they stay in Belegost at least until the child is old enough to travel. Deep in her heart, Nori would prefer that too, but it isn't safe, it won't be safe until Varik is dead and she is in no condition to take care of the problem now, it would be too risky.

The more she thinks on it over the days that follow, the more she realises that even though the timing is off she is _happy_ that she is carrying Dwalin's child. She would be lying if she tried to say that she had never thought about the possibility, she always knew that if she were to ever choose to have a child she would choose the father carefully and she can't think of anyone better than Dwalin, regardless of the fact that she is in love with him. Nor is she a fool. Nori knows that her way of life, as much as she enjoys it, isn't compatible with motherhood. Varik would have given her the time to give birth and nurse until the pebble is weaned, but her debt to pay off when buying her way out after Varik's death would have doubled or tripled. She certainly couldn't have kept the child and that would have meant passing them on to either a family eager to adopt or the father. Dwalin will be a marvellous father, whether they are on the road or in a town, but either way it won't be long until she has to tell him and it is getting harder and harder with every passing day to keep it a secret.

Finally, a week after she has found out about the baby, Nori gets impatient, packing her bag and intending on leaving a note telling Dwalin to catch her up. She doesn't _want_ to leave without him, would much rather be with him, but even if Varik _has_ gone to ground he cannot run things in Ered Luin from a distance for too long. He will reappear sooner or later and Nori wants to be well out if town before then. She won't just leave, however, she can't bring herself to go without telling Dwalin that it has to happen and why to his face. She can't take the risk that Varik will catch up with her while she is with child because Varik won't _care_ about the ancient laws and customs and beliefs that come with it. He'll kill her anyway.

She waits in their room nervously, fingers twisting in the blankets in a way that would never normally happen. Nori doesn't fidget with nerves. Nori doesn't fidget unless she's desperate to peak and Dwalin is teasing her. _This_ is something she is going to fidget about. Nori isn't sure that she's ready to be a mother, no matter how thrilling the idea that she is with child becomes with each passing day, she isn't even sure that Dwalin _wants_ to be a father. They haven't talked about it and perhaps they should have before now, but that came too close to the need to confess feelings and place labels on their relationship, and she's been perfectly happy with thing the way that they are. She hears the door open and leaps to her feet, almost rushing out to him when she hears him speak.

"Go into that room there and drop your things, lads," Dwalin says, "I'll tell Nori you're here and then see about getting us something to eat."

"What's going on?" She demands as he walks into their room, behind him she sees a glimpse of the young princes hovering near the door to the other bedroom.

"Dis isn't doing so well," Dwalin mutters, shutting the door. "We'd hoped that she would remember the lads and at least try for them, but she's drifting further towards the stone."

"It hasn't been that long," Nori reminds him, "grief isn't like a candle that you can just blow out, we both know that."

"Aye, but those boys have lost their fathers too. They _need_ her and she-" he huffs. "I know it isn't ideal and normally Balin would handle it, but some diplomatic thing came up and he's had to leave to deal with it."

"Run away, you mean," Nori hisses and Dwalin nods. "His timing couldn't be worse," she sighs. "I _have_ to leave tomorrow, I want you to come with me. I _need_ you to come with me." She takes a breath. "Turns out that chip isn't supposed to be part of the charm I wear," she tells him after a beat. "I'm carrying and if Varik comes back and finds me it won't make any difference. It isn't just _me_ now, Dwalin, it's our child too."

Protective instincts towards children and carrying 'dams are strong in dwarves. Their uneven split between the male and female population means that every pregnancy is precious and every child even more so. She sees the moment that Dwalin realises what she has told him, hears him take a shuddering breath and she waits while trying not to shift nervously. Then he crushes her to him and kisses her until she can hardly breathe.

"I'll go to Thorin in the morning, tell him what's happening," he promises. "You're right, we can't risk it, just don't go until I've talked to him. I'll need you to watch over the lads, it's probably better they don't hear me and Thorin arguing again."

She doesn't want to, but she agrees and follows him from the room to see what the young princes are up to. What she sees breaks her heart over again. Both of them, usually so confident and full of life, sit at the table in the kitchen silently. Kili is clinging to his older brother fiercely, his dark eyes wide and shadowed with grief. Fili is picking at the scarred table top with one finger, his child-beard fluffy and overgrown from lack of care. Kili's is as well and the maternal instincts that Nori didn't even think she had surge up.

"Come on, boys," she says gently, "I'll show you where the baths are, you'll feel better with a bit of a clean up."

It's a lie, they won't feel any better. Nori still grieves for her mother sometimes, she suspects that now she is with child she will feel that loss more keenly in the coming months, but the pain eases with time. She leaves them to wash and clean up, joining Dwalin in preparing dinner in silence and wondering how Dis can be so lost to her grief that she cannot see how it is affecting her own children. She doesn't comment on it, doesn't need to because she sees the same question in Dwalin's eyes and feels how grateful he is to her for simply stepping forward and helping rather than arguing. If she weren't in so much danger, if not for the child and the fact that her presence may yet bring Varik down on them, Nori would stay for the sake of those boys. There is too much risk in it, however, so she sees them to bed and checks on them in the night.

The following morning Dwalin is gone as soon as the sun rises, his pack is already on the bed ready for their journey wherever it may take them, and Nori is cleaning up after breakfast with the two young princes. They're quiet still, but over the course of the previous evening they had relaxed into her presence and Nori recognises that for the gift that it is. They have no reason to trust her or want to trust her, they simply do. She would be glad of this, but she can't settle, a deep pit has opened in her stomach and she has already checked that the front door is locked and the hidden exit, a tunnel out of the basement, is also secure. She trusts her instincts and she has ignored them too often of late. She hushes the lads when she hears a faint click outside, then a muttered curse in a voice that she knows all too well.

Varik has found her.

"You need to go," she hisses to Fili, " _both_ of you, _now_." He gives her a look of complete betrayal until they hear pounding on the door and she thanks Mahal that she had insisted on Dwalin installing a bolt as well as a lock. "Go to your uncle's halls, find Dwalin. Tell him Varik found me, that I'm sorry and I love him."

"Come with us," Kili insists. "You can be safe too."

"He's found me once, he isn't going to let this go and if he finds you with me he won't care who you are, he'll kill you too," she insists, pushing them towards the hatch. "Bolt this from the inside once you're through and run. Don't stop, don't look back. _Run_. I couldn't save your fathers. I won't repay their friendship by failing to save you. _Go_." Fili hesitates, hand stuffed in his pocket, then turns with something clenched tightly in his fist. Golden light flickers around it for a moment.

"Take this," he says, holding out a little crystal on a leather cord. "Uncle and Dwalin can use it to find you."

"I don't think there's going to be much of me to find," she tells him and his blue eyes turn pleading. "Alright," she relents, "now will you _please_ go?"

He does as she asks, vanishing into the darkness of the basement and she eases the door closed as quietly as she can before dragging a nearby threadbare rug over it. It won't hold up to close examination, but it will pass at a glance and that's all that the lads will need. Varik won't care if there had been someone else in the house so long as he has her. She has time enough to don the leather cord and crystal given to her by Fili before the bolt finally gives way under the assault on the front door.

"I'm surprised you were foolish enough to stay in town," Varik says as he strolls in, dodging a knife she flings his way almost casually. It hits one of the enforcers with him, but he's brought ten of them and she knows that unless she takes him out first there won't be any stopping them. "You know you can't win."

"Maybe I'm hoping they'll kill me before you can get your hands on me," she grates out, managing to hit another enforcer.

Her next knife hits Varik in the arm when he doesn't move quickly enough, but that costs her when he pulls it out and throws it back at her, forcing her to duck and miss her next shot. She isn't sure how long she fights for, Nori has always made sure that she fight her way out of any situation that she can't talk or fuck her way out of, but it isn't as long as she would like before two of the enforcers manage to get past her and take hold of her arms. She kicks and twists and screams, tries everything to break free because she doesn't want to die and she doesn't want her baby to die. She even bites, managing to bite the ear off one of the enforcers before Varik hits her in the stomach so hard that she can't breathe. Dwarves are hardy, but that hardiness shows in their strength and one dwarf can do as much damage to another with their fists as Men can do to other Men, even if the fist of a Man would hardly make a dwarf pause. She spits the ear at him as the enforcer howls but she's weakened just long enough for another to grab her. Pain flares through her as Varik lashes out again and again, until she cannot stand and she lies curled on the floor as they kick at her and blood bubbles in her throat.

"Can't leave you like this for your guard to find," Varik says when they stop. She's gasping in agony, unable to really breathe to even whimper. "It's just a question of how, really. To the heart or throat? Quick and painless, or shall we string you up and drain you slowly as a message to everyone else that no one betrays me?" She coughs, tasting the iron of her own blood and she knows that even if she sees a healer she might not survive so it doesn't really matter _how_ Varik kills her, she just wants him to hurry up about it.

The last thing she hears before darkness claims her is Dwalin's enraged roar and the last thing she feels is a brilliant flare of pain over the agony she's already in.

Nori wakes, her eyes opening slowly and the dim glow of a mage light pierces through them. She groans as pain flares and soars through her and she remembers. She remembers Dwalin's roar and Varik's head bouncing on the floor and the slump of his corpse pressing the knife into her already abused body. She remembers thinking that her luck had finally run out.

She hurts, burns with the pain even, but she is alive which means that Dwalin must have reached her with a healer in time. It has to have been a healer far more gifted than Beryl, she knows that her injuries were severe. The sound of her groan, however, the shift of her head and the hitching of her breath has alerted others to her awakening. She expects the first voices she hears to be Dori or Ori, they must be worried sick, but instead she hears Dwalin and the way he calls her name is thick with relief and lack of sleep.

Beryl is there in a moment, deft fingers poking and prodding at Nori's side and chest as she calls for another, though Nori doesn't hear the name. This one joins her and the two poke and prod at the thief, asking question after question and hushing her when she tries to speak further by giving her sips of water. Finally, apparently happy with her progress and after announcing that she will recover, the other healer leaves. Beryl and Dwalin remain and Nori knows that they have bad news for her.

"Dori and Ori?" She whispers, almost disappointed that they aren't already here, especially as she recognises this as the bedroom that she shares with Dwalin.

"Einar will send them in," Beryl replies.

"The baby?" She asks, and Dwalin makes a broken sound that sends ice through her veins.

"I'm sorry," Beryl shakes her head and reaches for Nori's hand. The thief pulls away. "Einar was sure that we could save you, but only if we waited until _you_ were stable before focussing on the baby. To try and heal both of you at the same time would have killed both of you. We had to decide whether to save you and hope to have time to save the baby, or lose both of you. We were told to try and save you."

"By who?" She demands. "Who told you to condemn my child?"

"I did," Dwalin tells her and red flares brilliantly around him.

" _Liar_!" She snears. "Don't _lie_ to me, not about this. Who made the choice? Who thought they had the right to make that decision?"

"I did," Dori says from the door, Ori beside him. "Dwalin is trying to spare us your resentment, but is it so terrible that we wanted our sister to live?" There is no flare of red to him, no hint that this is a lie.

"There's more," Beryl says before an argument can start. "We tried, we really did, but there was a lot of damage. We hope we have done enough, but we aren't sure that you will be able to successfully carry a child in the future. Injuries like this are hard to heal and even though it isn't an impossibility it won't be easy."

She stares at her hands, trying to process Beryl's words as it all comes crashing in on her. She had barely had time to really get used to the idea, barely had time for all of her protective instincts to fully kick in and settle on the fact that she was going to be a mother. Now it's gone, over just like that. No child. No future.

"We'll work it out," Dwalin tells her softly, his normally gruff voice so impossibly gentle that it _hurts_. "You need to heal, lass. Once you have we can deal with the rest of it."

"There's no _we_ , Dwalin," she spits, the need to hide her hurts and her heart setting in hard and fast. "You were a _fuck_ , that's _it_." Dori makes an outraged noise and Ori squeaks but all Nori wants is to be alone. She doesn't want their sympathy or their pity. She doesn't want them to see her break. She just wants them to leave her so that she can do what she needs to and she stamps on the agony that fills her as Dwalin's face shuts down, as the tender expression that she has secretly come to cherish vanishes to leave a blank mask. "There's nothing to keep us together," she adds in a hollow voice, "no baby, no love, nothing. You don't have to pretend you care about what happens to me. I don't have to give a fuck about _you_ anymore. Why don't you just piss off and tell all your friends about your lucky escape?"

She doesn't mean it, she doesn't mean a word of it, but she's hurting so badly and she has always lashed out when she's hurting. Dwalin stares at her in silence, as though he can _see_ the way that her heart is shattering in her chest. She's been so careful for so long and now she's sat in front of the only dwarf she might ever love as her world collapses in on itself. She lets out a muffled sob, clawing at her chest as she tries to drag the wave of emotion back in, trying to push it down only for it to come out as a keening wail instead. Strong arms pull her close, tight and familiar, and Dwalin holds her as she weeps. She clings to him, not sure whether to push him away or pull him close, and sobs until she loses consciousness once more.

Dwalin is gone when she wakes once more, the room is empty save for her, and though her gait is stiff and clumsy she cannot stay here. She cannot stay in Ered Luin. She grabs her belongings and slips out before anyone can stop her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *hides under a mountain*
> 
> In all seriousness, I had the end of this chapter written before I had reached chapter three. I always knew it would reach this point, because if things had gone the right way they would have married and had children and there's no way both of them and all their family would have left Ered Luin with children in the mix. There's still one chapter to go. This isn't the end for them yet.


	19. Time Passes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four Years Later:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The format of this chapter is very different to the rest, but if I wanted to tell the next couple of decades in detail I'd end up with another 50 chapter long story. Time skips ahoy.

**Four Years Later:**

Nori slips through the corridors of Thorin's Halls nervously. She doesn't want to be here. She's avoided Ered Luin entirely since the day that she left and she hasn't dared to come back. Too many memories to face, too many emotions that threaten to pull her under. Pain, grief, rage, despair, regret, love all jangle within her in a cacophony that she cannot control or fully ignore. If she sees Dwalin she might just fall apart entirely, if he doesn't kill her first and she wouldn't blame him either. She said unforgivable things to him the last time that they spoke, then she fled like a coward when he would have been grieving too.

She only has one reason for being back and he is currently sleeping in chambers which were distressingly easy to reach all things considered.

"Wake up, Thorin," she says. The displaced king sits up with a quiet shout and a knife in his hands.

"You're back," he comments.

"I'm not staying. I came to tell you to stop sending the ravens, I'm not interested."

"Please," he says quickly when she moves to leave. He doesn't physically try to stop her, however, which is a relief given how badly that has gone for others in the years since Varik tried to kill her. "I need some texts found, and you're the only one I can think of who might be able to procure them from their reluctant owners.

"You're asking me to steal?" She arches an eyebrow.

"I'm asking you to try and convince them to take the offered payment first," he holds a list out to her and she scans it quickly.

"Magic texts," she observes, "advanced ones at that." Nori isn't gifted, none of her brothers are either, but she's looked into charmed objects often enough to recognise fields of study that are far out of what they have in the dismal magical library in Belegost. These are scattered through the towns of Men on both sides of the Misty Mountains. "This could take me years," she tells him.

"It took Balin years to track them all down," Thorin scoffs, "I expected no less. There's three bags of gold in the chest, that should cover payment for the texts and your expenses. I'm sure you'll tell me should you have been forced to acquire more along the way." She's tempted to refuse, but it will keep her out of Ered Luin for three, maybe five years depending on how tightly the mages who possess these books cling to them.

"Very well. But no more ravens, you'll see me when you see me," she tells him. "How is he?" She asks after a moment's pause.

"Miserable," Thorin replies, obviously aware of who she's talking about. "Will you see him before you go?"

"I think that would make things worse."

 **Seven years** **later:**

"One more job," she grumbles as she ducks through a sewer in Belegost. "It's just an amulet, just a little focus. It won't even be that hard. I'll fucking skin him when I get my hands on him."

"Get your hands on who?" An all too familiar voice demands.

Nori is not too proud to admit that she has been avoiding Dwalin as much as possible. She has long accepted that running from him hadn't been the right thing to do, but in her defence she has never liked sharing her pain or letting others see her vulnerable. Just _sleeping_ next to him had been a far bigger step than he will ever know. As much as she has avoided him, however, she also knows that _he_ has kept his distance from _her._

"Hello, Dwalin," she whispers, turning to look at him. "You look good." Which is mostly true, in the dim light that filters through the drains above them she can see the marks of sleepless nights beneath his eyes, but otherwise he seems to have gained _more_ muscle.

"And you look like shit," he observes.

"You really know how to flatter a lass," she hisses, "but since I _am_ covered in it, I'll let that slide." He snorts.

"Thorin sent me to find you," he tells her. "I'll take you to him and be out of your way."

"Can we talk?" She asks, not liking the idea of him leaving now that he has actually spoken to her.

"You left me, Nori," he replies. "And you weren't the only one grieving. There isn't anything to talk about."

**One year later** **:**

Nori wakes with an aching head and a mouth so dry that her tongue is stuck to the roof of it. She opens her eyes carefully, muttering curses about letting Dis fill her with ale the night before at Thorin's birthday celebration and freezes when she realises that the room is unfamiliar and there is someone in the bed next to her.

"Suppose we better have that talk, then," Dwalin comments, and memories come flooding back; the ale and the dancing, her argument with Dwalin, angry words snarled in a drunken haze that turned to the clash of teeth and lips and the too rough search of hands. Memories of him slamming into her over and over, and the ecstasy that followed which has been missing for so long.

She isn't one for drinking too heavily these days, her tolerance for it had significantly lessened over the long months of her recovery in a village two days from Belegost and early on she spent as much time sobbing into her tankard over her lost child and lost love as she did getting blackout drunk so that she could sleep and forget for a little while. Getting that drunk is a very good way for a thief to get themselves caught and _that_ had been her wake up call. Dis hasn't had any such life lesson and drinks a little too much for Nori's tastes these days even if she understands why. Quite what possessed her to try and keep up with the princess is something Nori hasn't fully worked out, but likely has to do with the last year of pain after her encounter with Dwalin in the sewers.

"It was a nice fuck, Dwalin," she replies, feeling that same pain rise up to compete with the throbbing in her skull, and levering herself up so that she can slip out of bed.

"No, you don't get to do that again," he says, taking hold of her arm. She freezes. Most of the time the memories don't bother her anymore if someone holds her like this, and it shouldn't bother her now. This is Dwalin, however, and the whole thing is knotted around both of them. "Nori?" He releases her, but she doesn't move straight away, concentrating on keeping her rising panic under control.

Then, haltingly, she tells him what happened to her that day. She's only ever discussed it with Beryl, during her first time back in Belegost, her friend hadn't done more than listen and hold her if she needed it and part of Nori had longed for it to be Dwalin that she was opening up to. She knows that she couldn't have done this then, isn't entirely sure that she can do it now, but she forces herself to press forwards. She forces herself to tell him how terrified she was, how she reached the point where she had resigned herself to the fact that she was going to die. She tells him that she knows she should have run with Fili and Kili, although that probably would have gotten all three of them caught in the end, because maybe their child would have lived if she had been a coward.

"Is that why you left?" He asks. "Because you thought I'd blame you for not running?"

"Wouldn't you?" He doesn't answer. "I thought so."

"It's done," he replies. "There's nothing that can be done to change it. Was any of it real? Or was I really just the best fuck you'd had in a while?"

She could walk away, turn her back and never have to deal with him again. She could lie and tell him that there was never really anything there and it had been fear of dying and the desperation to keep her child alive which had caused her to ask Fili to give him _that_ message. She doesn't have any right to tell him that it had become too real for her, that it's still real for her. She doesn't have any right to his heart or to ask him to open it to her again. She doesn't, but the words that would end this whole thing before she can give him the chance to truly break her heart won't come. They stick in her throat, unable to force their way past the lump that forms at the idea of shattering this fragile moment and losing him forever. She won't survive losing him again, whether through her words or his.

"It was real," she breathes finally. "Every bit of it. It made me careless and because of that Varik found me and broke me."

"He wanted revenge," Dwalin reminds her, "and he got it. You didn't have to leave."

"I couldn't tie you to something broken," she replies, "and I didn't want you to think you had to out of pity. I didn't want to keep you and watch you start to resent me." She sighs. "I'm sorry. I know that doesn't make it better."

She's had a long time to think about this. She had thought of all the things that she would say and offers she would make if he would only give her another chance, take her back and love her the way that she hopes he once did. One look at his face, however, just a glance at the agony and betrayal written over his features makes all of those offers seem trivial, futile and meaningless. She has no right to him, no right to ask him, no right to claim him, no right to want him.

"'Sorry'?" He laughs bitterly. "You broke my heart and you're sorry? You _ran_ while I was grieving for my child and after I had spent _days_ at your bedside wondering if you would ever wake up, and you're _sorry_?"

"I'll leave," she tells him.

"Aye," he snarls, "because that's your answer to everything isn't it? Run away!"

"What do you want from me?" She demands. "You don't want me to apologise, you don't want me to leave! What else _is_ there?"

"I want you to stop hiding!" He snaps, reaching to grab her so that he can turn her around. She glares up at him defiantly, or as defiantly as she can with her hair in disarray and bare to the world. "I want you to never have left, I want you to tell me that you thought of me at least once in the years since. I want you to still love me!" As though realising what he's said he steps back and hides his face in his hands.

"I think of you every day," she tells him. "Sometimes I can carry on when I do, but others the hole where you were is so big that I almost can't live with it. I _do_ still love you, and I'm selfish enough-"

He cuts her off by kissing her.

**Five years later:**

"When I get my hands on you, thief," she hears Dwalin bellow as she runs, "there won't be anything left except pieces!"

She laughs breathlessly and picks up the pace, it wouldn't do to have people in this town think that she and Dwalin are anything other than mutual enemies. She's needed a way out for weeks and she's glad that Thorin sent Dwalin to get her. Their relationship is rebuilding slowly. Without the war between the thieves guilds, without the near misses and lingering threats, there is nothing more to push them towards one another than their own desire for each other. Nori spends a lot of her time out of Ered Luin still, too many memories and too many others who remember her part in the guild war. Her time out of Ered Luin has been good for her, and for her relationship with Dwalin. They burn hot and bright for one another when she's in Belegost and sometimes they leave together, other times they don't. When they are apart Nori will return when the longing for him gets to be too much, or when Thorin calls her to find him some other advanced magical text or tool. Others, Dwalin will come and find her when he decides that she has been gone for too long.

They have talked about what happened, talked about the past and touched on the future. It gets a bit much sometimes, when the discussion rolls around to children and the question about whether they will ever try again, and Nori has to stop herself from disappearing out of the door and going back on the road. Dwalin will never forgive her if she does it again. He catches her while she is thinking in an alley, grabbing her hand and dragging her against him, fingers fumbling with her belt as he pushes her against a wall and his breath hot in her ear.

He still enjoys the chase as much as she does.

**Eight years later** **:**

They are actually starting to think about children. Nori and Dwalin have settled in a small dwarf settlement in Ered Nimrais and even though they haven't made anything formal they both feel that they have healed enough from the past to start reclaiming some of what was stolen from them. Nor are they getting any younger and if they want to start trying it would be better to do it sooner rather than wait too much longer. They don't go to Ered Luin often, and when they do they go in separately and leave the same way. Their relationship is no one's business but their own. If others who knew them in the beginning want to think that they are still pining for one another, that's on them. There are people who won't approach Nori if they know that she's involved with Dwalin again, and news like that travels fast in those quarters.

"He's doing _what_?" Dwalin demands.

"He's getting together a company to try and get the Arkenstone out of Erebor," Nori replies, reading the coded letter with a heavy frown. "Ori's already signed up, which means Dori won't be far behind. Dis says the lads want in too-"

"Pack your things," Dwalin barks, "we're leaving. Stone brained idiot isn't going anywhere without me to watch his back."

"His back or his ass?" She mutters. He raises an eyebrow. "It's a _nice_ ass!" She defends as he swats at hers with a shake of his head.

**2941, Belegost:**

"I won't have you two distracting each other on this quest," Thorin growls. "I am not so desperate for numbers that I won't leave one of you behind or send you back. You've kept this thing you have under wraps for years. Keep it that way on the road."

"Understood, Thorin," Dwalin agrees.

Nori sighs, keeping her hands to herself has never been easy.

**Rivendell:**

"Lord Elrond?" Nori looks up at the stately elf, easily able to see his frustration with the Company and their behaviour. He nods with a poorly concealed sigh. "I hear you're the best healer in Middle Earth," he arches an eyebrow. "I need to ask you to check something for me."

**Mirkwood:**

"Not here!" She hisses, stopping Dwalin before he can plunge into her and give her exactly what she's craving.

"Worried that the elves will see?" He asks.

"No," she replies. "There's dampening charms all over the cell, it means this won't work," she gestures to her charm.

"What are the chances?" He mutters, they hadn't made any serious attempts in the past but they _had_ taken the risk once or twice.

"According to a certain elf lord, pretty good," she whispers.

"You'd trust an elf?" He replies and she shrugs. In this she would probably trust the Corrupter himself if it would let her carry a child.

 **2942,** **Erebor:**

"Dwalin?" Her guard turns from the Iron Hills soldier he had been berating to greet her. She waits quietly while Dwalin carves a few more chips off the lad.

"What is it, thief?" He asks after sending the lad away. She still rarely visits him in the middle of the day, even though everyone knows about them by now.

"I'm pregnant."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is done. What started out as a fun romp through Nori's head turned into something that I didn't completely foresee. I knew that there was going to be the loss and separation, but until the plot smacked me over the head I didn't know all the rest. Thanks to Jimiel for all the encouragement, and you know which line I nicked, and to the commenters. This has been fun, but now it's time to focus on the art of tying up all the strings in Wild Magic and I couldn't do that with this waiting in the wings. Happy days


End file.
